The first thing we knew we needed for our new home was water. You just can't build without knowing where your water is - or even if you have any! The mountains where our property is located have a fairly high water table, and we even have a spring a few hundred feet down our west ridge. So in the summer of 2007, JB flew back to Seattle for a week and drove out to our land with my brother, RJ, who owns the 40 acres north of us. We had hired a driller for that week and all was prepared. First, JB and RJ had to cut tree branches and bushes back from 3 miles of the road so the drilling rid could get up without scratching off all its paint.
For many years, since our days of rendezvousing, we have camped in a tipi. It was easier to do having our own land because we could just leave the tipi poles up and put the skin on when we camped. But when JB and RJ first drove up there in 2007, RJ's first comment was, "Where are the tipi poles?" We knew there had been a really bad wind storm in the area in 2006 with wind speeds on Mission ridge reaching 100 mph. Well, it seems that we lost one very large tree in that storm, and on all our 40 acres, it decided to fall on our tipi poles! Fortunately it missed the outhouse by about 10 feet. Rather the poles that the outhouse, I guess.
The water witcher came up and found two possible sites for the well. JB chose the site just above where we wanted to build our house, and the drilling began. This is not an inexpensive endeavor. It is billed by the foot. And after 400 dry feet we and our bank account were starting to sweat. Another 100 dry feet. JB had to leave to catch his plane back to Illinois, so he told the drillers to go to a maximum of 600 ft and he left not knowing the results. A phone call as he was at the airport confirmed that at 612 ft they found water. Whew!!!
Now: June 4, 2011
And speaking of water, yesterday it was looking so much better. We filled the cistern some more, and will reseal the riser today. Thank goodness the rain is gone for the time being. This is the wettest year on record so far in the state of Washington, and our dry, pine-and-fir-covered eastern slopes are beginning to look like the western slopes' rain forest! For you who are not familiar with Washington state, it is divided north and south by the Cascade Mountains. The western side (about 1/3 of the state) is very wet, with two main seasons: wet and wetter. The eastern side is much dryer, with the four distinct seasons, and that is one of the main reasons we moved over here. I'm beginning to think the weather followed us over.
As I am writing this at 5:00 am, I am watching the sun hit the mountain peaks and work its way down the slopes. Another beautiful, and finally seasonable day.
Our neighbor, Larry, is going to bring his tractor & bucket up this evening and dig our our west bank behind the house about 3 feet. We need this done before we can build the deck. JB was doing it by hand but at 26 ft long and 3 feet in, we probably wouldn't get the deck built until October! Also, JB had a triple bypass in 2007. If his doctor could see some of the things JB's doing up here, he would probably put him in the book of Miracle Recoveries.
This is just one example of how incredible our neighbors, Larry and Elsie, are. I love the bond that being Up Here creates with good people.
Also today we will be putting the skin on the tipi for the year. We have guests coming soon and all through the Summer and Fall, and the tipi is our guest lodge. We had left the skin on during the winter of 2009/2010 as our nephew likes to come up for a weekend during the winter to camp and visit. Plus, we like to go out there when there's lots of snow on the ground to build a fire and just veg. We don't want to leave it up every winter, though, just to make it last. We have had it since about 1984 and want it to last for years to come.
Ah, the tipi poles. Where did we get the new ones? Well, in the summer of 2009, we cut them ourselves. But that's another story for "Then."
I have created a couple Pages in my blog. The first, "Things I have learned building and living WAY off the grid," which is self explanatory and I will be adding to along the way. And today I am putting up, "Recommended Reading," a list of books, magazines and catalogs that we have found very useful. I am also working on a few others that I hope you will find interesting.
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