Choppin' Broccoli

Andrew and I are waiting for the excavators to do the dirt work on our property. They can't drive on the roads with heavy equipment due to seasonal DOT ordinances. So we decided to start splitting some of the trees we've already chopped down. We might as well as we have the time and sometimes we have the energy. While Andrew chainsawed the long pieces I split the short pieces. Cause I'm cool like that, or not, if you take a gander at my "concentration" face.

Mostly cleared

We've been working hard and we have most if not all of the clearing done. Many thanks to all our helpful friends! This is April 10th, and within a few days the snow should be gone so dirt work can commence! It could begin any day now, although it seems like winter is hanging on tough. Warm melting weather but we're getting more snow!

Looking down the driveway from near the top


At the edge of the switchback. To the right is up the driveway to the road. To the left is where the house goes, nestled behind the trees so it's fairly hidden from the road.

Bonfire!

First we forced friends to be slave labor for us. But seriously, thank you to Ian, Johnny, and JohnT for helping us out Saturday afternoon. Part of this labor included stacking the tree tops and brush for the bonfire.



We went back to the house for a little cake and some present opening (Andrew's birthday party). At around 7pm we headed down to the land to start the fire. Apparently this included cutting benches which I wasn't aware of until JohnT and Andrew started making them. Those sure came in handy as the night wore on. We started pretty early in the evening because we thought it would take a really long time for all the wood to burn (maybe until 2am). Andrew and I would have to wait until the fire burnt down to the coals. Anyway, Andrew soaked a cardboard box full of sawdust and other cardboard boxes with diesel fuel, the rest of us spent a good ten minutes trying to light a match, and then the whole thing went up in flames. It burned beautifully and didn't take nearly as long as we thought it would.





As you can see our land still has some trees on it so we didn't burn down Fairbanks with our bonfire. It was fun and I can't wait to do another one.

1st Day on the Job!

Our first official day of house "constuction" has commenced. It's not just talk anymore, we are physically destroying nature with our little human hands! My parents came up on the 23rd and then on the 24th we all went out to the land and started felling trees for the driveway. I do believe that my Mom and Dad worked their balls off for me.

My Dad was the first person to start cutting. He was quite anxious to get started but was very cautious and meticulous about where he fell each tree.



After Dad took a break Andrew got into the action a bit.







Mom and I were waiting around for a bit as we had to be out of the way of falling trees. Mom tooled around on her snowshoes and I took a picture of this crazy rainbow.





Once some trees had been chainsawed into manageable pieces then we all started stackin'.








It was a fulfilling and fun day!

Windows 2.0

Based on some of the input we've gotten, I've made some updated window options, after the original one many liked. Taller round windows so it doesn't look so squat. Then there's a new option with windows with a top edge 1' taller than normal. Then an option with a third row, and finally one with a round window at the very top, just for Cam. The bottom windows could be the same width for all options, even though they don't look it here

I also included a line to show where the ceiling is, plus a little stick figure of a 5'9 person for scale. I also added one foot to the height of the house to give it correct scale. I forgot that the floor is 1' thick...

Votes? Again, some of this will come down to cost, which we don't know yet.