Site Leveling done…

Wow! What a difference 7 hours can do! First, we (bro and I) arrived at 10AM, estimated time of arrival of our hired hand. He called and said he would be up to 2 hours late due to a flat tire. Heck, we just hung around, talked, kicked some rocks, etc. Then, the guy showed up.

Our first business was to get the site areas leveled for my 20x20 ft. slab and my brother's 12x16 ft. slab. Then, also to clear my bro's open area of all the little, now up to 7' trees, out of the space before they become too big. So, we drifted away and drove to LaGrange to find some little bakery and get some kolaches. We stopped by a store closing sale, being furniture. Nice stuff, still big prices, not the right time to buy anything. We kept going some and since I was hungry we stopped by Jalisco's Mexican restaurant! That's some good eating. Before then, we stopped one or two businesses down and saw some little, little Daihatsu trucks and also looked at a close ended carport. Only $795. Maybe it could be a good price, if they could have the same siding. Or just see if the other company makes the same type of product.

Back to the property…all in about 3 hours he did all the site leveling and clearing of trees. We found out a few things. The ground isn't full of clay like we thought, but sandy loam. The front of the property is the clay stuff, the back is very soft. I was also told that because of gas prices, he couldn't charge us the way low rates, but would charge us $15 more per hour to come out next time. That helped make a few decisions. I had enough for 7 hours of work, wanted future work done anyways, and we have him for four more hours at the original rate. Hmm…what to have him do?

He then cleared out the road area for my bro, smoothed out piles of crushed concrete (from the original owner's house having the foundation repaired and the contractors dumping the old concrete on the backside of her property, without her knowing) and made a small path by clearing out brush from a water spicket to the area the slab is intended to be put on his side. He wants to have a water pipe run from the water line over to his future pavilion/BBQ pit area. I assume he wants a small sink of sorts.

Then, we still had some time. He then was asked to go back over to my side and clear out some brush near the top of the ridge that leads down to the creek. I wanted a nice view of what lies below and not hide some of the beauty. Before that project, I asked him to make a 2 ft. deep fire pit, or so I called it. It's about 6 ft. wide both directions. Being I was having a bunch of brush torn out of the earth, I need to do something with it! I plan on having a few nice fires over the next year or so. As early as this winter. There are plenty of old dead branches lying around that can be used to heat up some smores, hands and cold feet. Hot Dog roast anyone?

It started to rain. Only after he mentioned that we really needed a good downpour to settle the leveled areas more, since his bobcat can only do so much. Ha ha…did it rain or what? I was soaked by the end of the day. I asked him if he knew it was going to rain, he said no. That was really funny! It rained for about 2-3 good hours, off and on, heavy and light. He then still had some time left, so I asked him to start clearing out an area that I wanted done the first time, but didn't get done due to time, etc. He didn't get it all, but looking at the size of the brush pile made it ok. Like I said, I have a lot of fires to produce.

7 hours, $350 and a good soaking made for a wonderfully productive day!

Now, ready for the concrete!