Potpourri Week

Howdy Y'all!

This blog update will be a bit of a collection of 'stuff' that has been happening this week. Progress on the house is moving along, as you'll see, but we've also had some additional fun events this week as well.

When we last left you, half of San Marcos was being dug up as fill dirt for our foundation. I'm happy to say that we've probably dug up the rest of it as well to complete the fill dirt requirements. We also had to make some unfortunate, but necessary, pruning decisions with a couple of small Live Oaks along the tree canopy over the proposed driveway.  There are some monster trucks hauling dirt in and we've had a couple of minor scrapes on the top of the trucks. I went out and removed the trees this week, so all is well now. Not really much 'new' to report on the foundation work, other than things are progressing as usual, and according to the project plan. 

More bags....

Luc, the 'intern'

Making progress, and halfway there

Rewinding back a bit to our power installation, the power company came in last week and finally installed our riser pole, which now means we are a week away from going 'hot' for power into the property and to the house.

The elusive riser pole is installed.

But wait, there's more...

Last weekend one of our BFFs from Bellevue, WA, - Gene and Beth Morel - spent the weekend with us and visited our homesite. The Morel's built a beautiful home on Lake Sammamish, so we got some additional advice and insight to consider during the project from some resident experts.

Beth, Gene and Jan at the build site

Notice the designer hats!

A bit of a side diversion to San Antonio for a Segway Tour of the city. (The infamous Alamo is behind us.)

Gene feeding alfalfa 'candy' to the local livestock.

And, even more!!

This weekend was the date of our annual 'roundup' of all the longhorns on the collective ranches for their annual inoculations, de-worming, branding of the new calves, and for some of the unfortunate baby bulls, their time to become 'it' steers. It is also the time when the herd gets thinned as some of the cattle go to auction, and some will become Sunday night dinner. A lot of fun, good camaraderie, and some great lunch eats at Jerry Miller's ranch.

From the yard...

Into the holding pen...

Into the chute...

Some vaccinations....

And back out for some R&R!

But, for some of the baby bulls, not a good day!

That's all for now!

- John and Jan - 

Dirt, Dirt, and More Dirt

Howdy Y'all!

This week, along with the continuing foundation framing work, we've concentrated on taking out some trees that have no redeeming value other than color. The nemesis here is the Juniper (aka Cedar - not to be confused with the great Northwest Cedar trees), which are causing enormous problems for central Texas.  For example, the area of infestation in Texas already has a terrific problem with water shortages throughout the year. During years when rainfall is less than normal (approximately 30 inches), the juniper is absorbing ground water at an alarming rate (approximately 22x that of the great Live Oaks).  For the outdoors people, the juniper overtakes areas that would normally be in native hardwoods and cattle grasses, and ruins the area for outdoor enjoyment.  However, another serious area of concern for people is the pollen production that occurs each winter.  This pollen production is the major culprit for allergy sufferers to seek refuge indoors and with heavy medication (aka Jan the Bubble Lady).  The juniper really has no redeeming value: it is poor firewood, it is poor landscape plant, it is a poor source of food for native animals, and it is poor wood for construction. Source - Wikipedia.

We have made the decision to strip out all junipers/cedars located in any of the tree stands where Live Oaks reside, or where they impede the view. 

The area where Jan is standing was cleared on Sunday and had approximately 30 trees. (Note the burn piles to the sides.) This opened up the view across the hills and will allow us to plant grasslands for the cattle and wildlife. Major change!

Before

This is a typical tree stand with Live Oaks and Cedars (note the darker colored tree on the right).

After

This is the same tree stand that has been cleared of underbrush, cedars, and bramble vines. 

Jorge's foundation framing team continues to make progress, along with setting up the necessary ancillary tools to settle the foundation fill. In this case, this is the 2500 gallon tank from the previous blog that will be used for watering and compressing the foundation fill dirt. (As a side note, we will be installing two (2) 25,000 gallon tanks for our rainwater collection system later on, but I digress.)

(Note the absence of my labor effort in getting this into place.)

Making myself extremely useful by holding up the wall.

During the last blog, I stated that we would need about 30 truckloads of fill dirt for the foundation. Well, I was wrong (yes, Bucky, a once-in-a-while event!); I've now been told that we will need about 60-65 loads. At 25 tons per load, that equates to approximately 15,000 tons of fill (a small factoid to file away for some dinner party). Kinda impressive when you think about it, but we haven't the vaguest idea what to equate it to. Equal to the displacement of the Queen Mary? The size of the North Korean dictator's ego? 

At about 20 truckloads

The white bags are the bottom layer of the compression foundation. These are 60 pound bags filled with foundation fill, and will be the inner support against the concrete and iron beams that will fill in next to the framing walls. This is about as low-tech as you get, but it works, and no one has come up with a better process for deep foundations.

A better view - Notice the American flag!

Wait, there's more ....

This week marked the milestone birthday for a couple of us (Craig Miller's sister, Connie, and yours truly). Yes, all of those AARP and Medicare notices for the last 10 years have finally paid off. I can now expect to save $.25 at the local theater on a $9.00 movie ticket! We had a small celebration at Craig and Melinda Miller's ranch home (thank you!!) so here are a few pics for your enjoyment!

Birthday girl and the birthday boy

BFFs - Nancy, Cindy, Melinda, Kathy and Jan

Our resident photog - Chelsea

But wait, there is even more!

Since it was my birthday, on Saturday Jan and I went to the Hot Rod Show in Austin. Way cool!! A great way to spend a Saturday. Thanks, Jan, for letting me drag you all over the show looking at Rat Rods which I'm sure you were totally into :-).

So, for all the guys...

That's all for now!

- John and Jan - 

Phoenix Rising ... Again

Howdy Y'all!

After a record-setting three engineering surveys, and three movements of the foundation plan, we have finally settled on the perfect location for the house. We are back in business! As they say, measure once, measure twice, measure a third time, then cut. Yup, that's us!

Yesterday started with the final (final!) survey and some foundation work after the rain on Wednesday, but today things really got rolling with nine (9) big  dump trucks backing up with foundation fill dirt. (Reminds me of my Tonka Toy dump truck days!) We'll have upwards of 30-35 loads brought in before the foundation is ready for rebar and cement.

Tonka Toys!

The foundation framing work started in ernest today, and we were amazed with how much gets done in a day's work. By day's end, almost 30% of the framing was completed, with the same amount of fill spread. The fill dirt is brought in and layered, and each layer is water-sprayed, mechanically compacted, and left to dry. It's a fairly laborious process, but absolutely necessary to eliminate any serious cracks in a long foundation.

Workin' on the chain gang, ... (hum along)

The last of the sacrificial Live Oaks to go for the good of the foundation framing work :-(

However, by moving the house  50 feet as part of our final solution, we were able to eliminate any incursion into the other major tree stands, and removed the need to trim any of the large Live Oaks. The arborist we consulted estimated one of the trees to be close to 400 years old. 

First layer for the Master Bath and Closets at the end of the first day!

Since we don't yet have water of our own on the property (yes, more on that later), the Builder brought in a temporary 1000 gallon tank for the foundation fill layering process. It will fit into the frame to the left.

And, last but not least, My Flower of the Day! (Jan thinks we can't see her.)

Wait, there's more!

For those of you that know us well, you'll remember that Jan and I have another great passion for communing with the great Porsche cars (okay, maybe it's only my passion!). This past Saturday we joined 40 other cars from the Porsche Club here in Austin for the Annual Bluebonnet Tour/Rally through about 120 miles of some very scenic Hill Country roads in search of the Great State Flower of Texas. We managed to see a bunch of them, but it was kinda hard to take pictures and drive at triple digits through the landscape. We did manage to find a complete yard full along the way and stopped for this picture. Happy Bluebonnets, everyone! (Okay, so the Porsche picture is larger, so what!)

 

 Happy Porsches and Bluebonnets!

More to come later!
- John and Jan -