Do Drink the Water

Yes! We have potable water! Isn't that a strange term? It seems if it's potable, then you can put it in a pot - to boil it? Then wouldn't just about any water be pot-able - then drinkable? Or you could pour it in "the" pot. But then - would it really need to be clean to pour in the pot? It should be called "potable-plus" or "extra-potable" . . . or something.

Anyway, the hole we dug worked. We have water. Phew.

Final cost of the well: $12,327.11.

Potable-ness

Today, at 1 PM in fact, the Health Department came to take a sample of our well water. It will take them about 3 weeks to decide whether or not we can drink it, or whether it needs to be re-tested, or whether we have to scrap the well and start all over again. That shouldn't have to happen. Please don't happen! That's an expensive hole in the ground.

In other news, we have our plans engineered and out for bids. We have quite a few things to tick off our checklist before we can get our building permit. Most important, we have to choose a builder.

At this point, I don't feel like I'm in a huge hurry. As long as we get started this fall, so we can get it all enclosed and finished over the winter. That way, our savings can keep earning a little interest until we switch over to paying-interest-people.

And - hooray! - lumber prices came back down to where they were before. Hopefully they'll stay that way.

Sleeping Again

We were able to change our minds and boy do I feel better. Plus, the parties involved were incredibly gracious and understanding. Phew.

In other news, Dad spoke with our driller today, who says he's getting about 10 gallons a minute, and is working to get it up to 20. So almost done there.

Apparently lumber prices have gone from around $250 to $350 per whatever unit over the last month or so. Ouch. Other than that, it's a pretty good time to build.

Beginning Well

Actual drilling on the well began today! Hooray! Thank goodness for some cold mornings with frozen ground. Our driller was able to get his truck unstuck. He was here this morning to get some barrels full of water - to soften the ground? And then we saw some machinery going up and down and we assume that means the well is being drilled.

We didn't hear pounding like we expected. But we saw some machinery going up and down . . . so we think that means the well is being drilled.

And I gave him a check for five grand. That's just for starters. Groan.

Post-edit: Oh, wait, Mike took a little video . . . Slight pounding.

Can he dig it? Yes, he can!

As we sit here waiting for the well to get started, (apparently he's stuck in the mud, literally) we reminisce on an exciting day.

It was March 25th, and our friend Shawn Durrant came out with his big machine and - here it comes - dug a hole in the ground!!

Sing with me, now! Shawn the Digger! Buh, buh, buh-buh-buh!

It was awesome. We all stood around and watched . . . because something was happening. And I gave Andrea a call to let her know we were all standing around watching her husband dig a hole in the ground. It was a very fine outing, indeed.

Charlie looked on in mild wonderment.

Truck in the Back Yard

This is progress. Though, as far as we can tell, the well isn't any more drilled.

Truck in the Front Yard

Our well-driller's truck has been out front for almost a week now. He has come out early in the morning three or four times to tinker on it, but it's not moving. We thought he'd be towing it to the back so he could start drilling and tinker on it in the meantime. But it's not moving. And we're not making progress toward a building permit. Waah. Ah, well. The longer it takes, the more money we'll have saved.

Marking the Road and the Well

On Saturday, March 13, 2010, we figured (as best we could) where the property line was bordering the Songers. We pounded some posts and strung some police tape so that as people (the well-driller, first of all) came to the property they would have a guide where to drive. Otherwise, permanent ruts would form where we wouldn't want them.

On Monday, March 15, we tried to locate where the well was supposed to go.

$8000 and a couple of holes in the ground later

This has been a fairly productive week.

HOUSE-PLAN: Last Saturday, March 20th, we met with Hyrum in the morning. We got the second-to-last bunch of papers from him, with the rear and side elevations. He'll call us in about 2 weeks (one week from now) and then we'll pick the final house-plan. And we'll give him his final payment of $1200.00. It has been a little more expensive hiring him as opposed to picking out a house plan on the internet, but I am so, so glad we did hire him. I'm so happy with what we've come up with and we couldn't have found one we liked as well. And we tried! Oh, we tried. We looked at thousands of plans. No exaggeration. He has done a terrific job and was really great to work with.

GUESS-TI-BID: Also last Saturday, we met with a prospective contractor, who gave us a preliminary approximate bid on our home. The bid was based solely on some jpegs of the house-plan without the exact specs or rear or side elevations. Anyway, it was a little depressing. It really sent Mike into a funk and he actually woke up sick the next day. We tried to console ourselves into thinking it would be less, considering some of the finishes that were bid were much more expensive than we'd choose. (Solid stain-grade doors inside, granite in the bathrooms . . .) We'll have to make many decisions regarding the finishes we want ("need") and then, along with the accurate, engineered plans, we can get the final bids.

We really like this contractor and he's charging a good rate for his contractor percentage, so we'll see how all the final bids come in.

WELL: Met with our well-driller on Monday and signed the contract. Wednesday, his drilling truck was in the middle of the driveway. Apparently there had been a fire somewhere in his engine, or something. Thursday morning, he moved further in to the property (and off the driveway) and along with our neighbor Sean, started work on the well. Mike, Ellie, Charlie and I all stood around in the shallow snow watching Sean dig a deep hole. (Charlie can't stand yet, actually. He was all bundled up in his jogging stroller.) It was so exciting to see something physical happening. He dug a 20+ feet deep hole, they positioned a pipe in it, then filled the dirt back in around it. They use the pipe as a guide to ensure the drilling goes straight down.

So this is the second of two holes referenced. The first was the perc hole dug last year around this time. Both holes are now filled in. So, actually, we don't even have two holes in the ground. But we have a pipe! And, yes, we've spent about $8000 and that's all we have to show for it. I had heard about death-by-fees. It is slow and painful.

His truck is still sitting there. Mike said he plans to tow it out to the spot and work on the carborator (or something) while he's drilling. He'll have us give him the initial chunk of money once they are positioned. ($5000.00) When all is done, it will cost us $12-16K. That, and we get to pay the state $280.00 per year to draw water from our own well. And they'll monitor us occasionally to check that we're not drawing more than our allowance. Nice. Ahhh, well. The water tastes great!

We've been taking pictures daily (or whenever we remember) from marked spots on the lot so that we can track the progress. We really love our spot. It has trees in front and in back, and horse-fields on the East. It is exciting. Also a little scary. Mostly exciting.