Burning Brush & Building Foundations

This last week we have been very busy again!!! Hubby has been working all day on another job. That job is a foundation, plus framing the house. At the same time we are building our house. So he has been going to work all day with our oldest and then coming home for dinner, and then off to work at our house with the next boys in line! D. and C. are proving themselves as they learn to build a foundation. Their older brother C. has been basically putting up the foundation forms himself, with his younger brother assistants. They are learning well from him.

Stripping the Footings

Putting Up the Forms

Inserting Bars in Forms

Hubby and I have been busy clearing and burning the land. One son thought I was landscaping, but really there is so much dead branches and tons of brush that has come off all the trees that we have cut down. So we decided to put a fire pit in the garage since it has good walls to keep the fire safe. We have managed to burn about two dump truck loads, saving ourselves money.

Working Hard Burning Brush in the New Garage

It is very satisfactory seeing how nice and cleaned out our front clearing looks. We will be giving ourselves a margin of ‘wild look’ at the front, between the grass and the road. This will give us a measure of privacy. At the moment it is cleared a little too much, but it won’t take long to grow back. The boys have worked very hard clearing all this. Even little A. was very involved today. Suffice it to say, they will be very glad when the clearing and burning is complete!

I took a picture of them at the end of today because we had rain on and off through the day. One minute it was hot and sunny and then for a short while it would sprinkle. Towards the end of the day it decided to bucket with rain.

Unfortunately it did not turn out in my camera. The children were wet little kittens and we had to come home. By the time we got to the van the dirt had turned to clay and the kids were coated top to bottom! Back to the bathtub for everyone!

Our Front Clearing - Road to the North

Loving His Freedom!

The little guys are having fun on the land. The baby has discovered the dirt and looks like a regular little country boy!!

His bigger brother, C. found an old snowboard in the pile of stuff that has made it to the land. He has been having a great time being a daredevil, boarding down dirt hills!

Dare Devil!

Wipe Out! Still Smiling.

Cadets and Mud Pits!

After We Got Through the Mud

The older boys had a Cadet weekend this past weekend. I was supposed to be there at noon to see what they do. I went the wrong way and ended up in the middle of the woods!! In my defense, there was no sign posting because this road was never usually used as an access. When I went the correct way a rancher told me (and others too) that we were trespassing, and we would have to go to the far end of the lake!!! I did this and ended up getting lost!

Finally after driving through four mud pits, and coming to the conclusion that the camp couldn’t

possibly be out here on these kind of roads, I turned around and headed back. I was giving up. I was very disheartened thinking of my boys imagining I couldn’t be bothered to come out and see their end of year camp.

Well! On the second hole back I got stuck! These were not just holes!! They were about 6’ long 2’ wide and at least 6” deep! Pure mud and lots of water. There I was with two babies in the car, in the middle of the woods, at least 20 km from civilization, STUCK! It was a bit freaky for a minute. I began to pray and then I remembered that when I was stuck in the snow in the past, I had used small brush and branches to get my car a grip. I got out of the van and tried to get through the mud in my *sandles* and shorts without getting my feet entirely coated!!

I put some of the branches under the right back wheel (after trying to remember if I had front or rear wheel drive). The front and back of the right side were deep in mud. The left side was on solid ground. I prayed and then gently reversed and thank goodness, we went back about 2’ feet before we got stuck again.

Just as I was gathering an armload of dead brush to put under the wheels I heard a cawing sound. Up above me just soaring over my head, were two hawks or eagles! It was wild. It almost made me think of a native story or something. Kind of like they were telling me something. Well, after making that one sound they took off.

I got back in the van and manged to back up some more. I continued doing this out of this pit, and it went directly back into the next pit behind! I then had to maneuver my way around these pits to get past the three areas in front of me! When we shot out the other side my little guy yelled, “God did it!” because we had been praying.

Out in the Woods Alone

I got to the camp and then found out that the other parents had been lost too. At least none of them had gone my way and ended up in the mud!

We managed to get there in time for a barbeque.

Having a Hot Dog

Getting Supplies For Three Legged Race

After this there was a three legged race. It was fun! My big boy and I tied our legs together and lined up with about 15 other teams and off we went!!

Getting Ready The Competition

I told my son before running my old tricky method from the winning days of my childhood. And sure enough, there we were running and we were at the middle of the pack, and he started catching on to my method, and then we were neck and neck with another mother and son.

Oh, she thought she was going to win… but NO! we leapt ahead of her and crossed the finish line a mere head in front of her! And to see the feet that won the race! Can you imagine he didn’t thrash my foot!!!

The Winning Feet

My other son was also in the race. The little guys watched us all. Then my biggest boy gave me a piggy back across the field on the return trip. What a hoot!! It really was a neat time.

Having Fun

Pouring the Footings

Building the Footings

The boys all (minus the wee ones), went to work with Hubby this week and built the footings. The inspector came by and it passed, and then it was poured on Monday. We all went to work and did the pouring.

Troweling the Footings - Hard Work - Hot Sun

Hubby asked me if I wanted to do some trowelling. He failed to tell me that I would be troweling, until it was done! *laugh*

Pouring the Garage

We all worked with Hubby until it was done. It was hard work! We got the main footings done, plus the garage foundation poured. Next is the pouring of the real foundation for the house.

The Audience - Always Willing to Watch

Excavation Day - Monday

It is so wonderful living so close to the land!!! Our boys went from having nowhere to ride their bikes to where they can ride back and forth to the land!!! We are only 1.7 km from our land! So this morning it was a race to see who would get finished breakfast first as to who went to the land. The other would stay home and help me. The oldest won and off he went on his bike. I *love* the freedom we all have right now!!!

Until recently the boys had these beaten up old bikes, but for the last year we have been buying the boys bikes (or buying them themselves) and now even hubby and I have bikes. We are planning on getting into biking since there are biking trails everywhere.

I have been noticing that our town is having a boom!! We sold our house to a person from the coast. Three (and possibly four) of the four showings on our land were to people from the coast! The person who bought the house beside our lot is from the coast. The lot on the other side is from the coast. The house across the street sold - all four properties sold in a matter of weeks!

At the lawyers office a couple ahead of me were from the coast - just moving in. At the bank the teller told me her parents just sold to people from the coast. At the grocery store I asked the cashier if she noticed all the coast people moving in and she said she didn't know - she just started there. She was new in town. Oh? Where from? The coast? *hee hee*

I hope we boom cause I want a public swimming pool for my kids and some more shopping options!!

Anyway, after this was done I went home and made hubby's lunch and one of the boys took off on his bike with the lunch. I followed shortly after with all the little boys. When we got to the land the excavator had dug out a lot of the foundation. We watched him continue for the next couple hours.

Overseeing the Job

Partly Excavated Site

He was now working on the power line.

Power Pole Arriving

Power Pole Going Up

The Pole is Up

We had a dump truck come in and take a load of tree stumps away.

Clearing the Brush With the Dumptruck and Excavator

Didn't seem to make much difference. They will have to come again! We also got our culvert and driveway in today. We have decided to have a detached 20x24 garage as well as the house. This is exciting cause we have never had a garage! *grin* Goodness, what will we do with the storage!! In our other house we never had bedroom closets or broom closets or a garage or anything!!! I can't wait to have all that storage!!!

The excavator guy was very nice and offered our children rides when he comes again!!! What a treat.

Waiting for the Promised Ride

The little guys enjoyed playing all over the dirt hills.

Climbing the Dirt Hills

Hauling Logs and Helpers - Sunday

What a day!!! Today hubby left for work (Sunday) because he had to get a job done before he could begin the chaos at our end. We are sort of settled into the rental house.

So I got the the boys all ready for Church and loved it because instead of leaving for Church 1 hour before it began, I could leave 10 minutes before it began! (since Church is now 10 minutes away)

So there I am all ready to leave and my keys can't be found. Ray had taken to work by mistake. Suddenly I decided - hey! I can go to the church across the road! Remember we are used to being 40 minutes from anything. We don't get to walk anywhere as there is nothing to walk to way out at our old house!

What a treat. I put the baby in the stroller and took off down the road - a 4 minute walk!

It was wonderful. The boys had a ball at Sunday School and we found out about some neat programs they have running. This church is only 1.4 km from our new house!!! Plus it is across the road from the rental.

After church I came home and found my keys had been returned by the man hubby is working for. Anyway, the boys and I had lunch and then headed out to the land. What a MESS!!! How dismal it looked.

Our oldest had a ball. He worked hard and was the main log hauler with the ATV.

Very Patient

Little guys did their best but they got distracted easily. At times I would look over at one and find him standing up tall and proud with a stick, "I'm Moses!" or he would say, "I'm looking for a walking stick."

Or he would be on the top of a pile of branches with his brother and they would be singing their lungs out.

Singing Buddies

At one time when I was about to give Austin trouble for watching and not helping he got me off guard when he replied, "Yes, my Honey!!!" with a great big grin.

"Thinking" About "Maybe" Beginning to Work...

The older boys and I hauled brush all afternoon. We began at 2:00 pm and at about 3:15 a boy arrived. He lived down the road and is in cadets with the older boys. He offered to help even though he knew we were not hiring paid labour. He was a wonderful worker! About an hour later his sister arrived and apologized for not getting there sooner. Nice kids!!

Good Workers!

The thing is that morning I had prayed that some people would stop by and offer to help! And it happened! The kids worked hard with us and I went up the road and ordered four large pepperoni pizzas at 6:00 pm.

Feeding My Crew!

By the time hubby arrived at about 6:30 (about 4.5 hours after we began our clearing) the area was cleared. It was about 90'x70'. We did about 3/4 of that area today!

A Hard Earned Clearing

We then measured out the house and garage. We had to peg the corners for the excavator. I then took the kids home and tossed the littles ones in the tub.

Bathtime Buddies

Hubby stayed at the land and he then cut down another 6 trees. One of the trees was about 100' tall! Now tomorrow we go back to the land and the excavator comes to begin the foundation digging.

Saturday Events

Hubby had decided that the excavation would probably happen on the Monday. If you saw this wood lot and realized what had to happen before we could excavate you would realize it was near impossible. We had 2 1/2 days!

On Saturday the older boys had their Annual Cadet Review. This meant that half our day was taken up at that function. Hubby went to the land with one son in the morning and cut down trees and then met us at Cadets.

At the Cadet Annual Review we watched the boys doing their marches on the parade square. They are very disciplined. There was an awards show after. They then showed us their display tents and had a luncheon.

Private and Cadet

As soon as it was over we headed to the land. One son was called "Caveman" because he wrapped a rope around himself to make a harness and used it to haul the smaller logs. This was to save his brother having to haul them with the ATV.

Caveman Dragging Logs

The rest of this day was spent clearing the logs that hubbyhad cut down that morning. There were now about 40!!!! YIKES!!! Do you know how many branches that makes? Hubby would saw off the branches and we had to haul them all to the brush piles. I felt like Ma Ingalls clearing the Big Woods for the Little House!

Neighbourly Dogs??? Not!!

The house next door sold and unfortunately he has two very large guard dogs. A German Shepherd and a Rottweiller!! He hung a sign on the fence that runs between our two properties: "Beware of Dog". He also has another sign that says, "I can get to the fence in 2.8 seconds - Can you?" But do you think he has the sense to erect a taller fence to keep his dogs away from our kids???? The fence is four feet tall. The dogs just have to stand on their hind legs and lean over.

He told us that they are trained and dangerous and to make sure the kids don't get too close. Wait til this mama bear talks to him!! If he doesn't put up a privacy fence, I will!!

Beginning to Clear the Land

After we left the land the guys got to work. They used a rope and a stick (and some fancy tricks) and the ATV and managed to cut down 15 very tall trees. Oh! Of course they also had a chainsaw!! *laugh*

Chainsaw Guy

Our oldest helped clear some of these trees with the ATV. This was a first for him. Up to now he had been a passenger behind dad, and once in a while he had used the snowblade. But now he was the main guy when it came to running the ATV.

The Main ATV Man

That afternoon the younger boys and I popped over to the land to see what was going on. We hung around for about an hour. There were so many bugs, it was getting late, and it was hard to have the baby (barely walking) on the land.

Enjoying the ATV.

First Day on the Land

The first day we went to the land was Friday. As soon as we got there hubby gave the younger boys new work pouches as they will be helpers on this house building project.

The Boys

When we built our last house our boys were very helpful, even though they were very young .

This was also the day we began tagging trees, so we would know which trees to cut down.

Tagging Trees

While we were tagging trees one little one was working very hard dragging his "Christmas Tree" to the van. It took him a long time but he was determined to take it home. So we did! Who says you can't have Christmas Trees in June?

His Christmas Tree.

Feelings

I have to tell you I have such an excited feeling in the pit of my stomach all of the time!! I feel like I am living in Disneyland!!

I loved living in the country. It was such a wonderful place to be, but now things are different. Here I am in a place that 6 months ago I would never have dreamed I would be!

I listen to the cars drive by, the planes fly over, the ambulances down the road, the air raid?? siren (what is that all about I have no idea!) in the middle of the night (twice) and I feel like I am on this never ending ride at Disneyland!

It is so exciting knowing that when we get in the car at A&W I have to say to the boys, "Hurry up (and eat). We are almost home." Too bizarre!!! We are used to rides home being 40 minutes - not 10!

I love the fact that if I need groceries it is not an all day event!

I love that my kids can walk over to the Youth Centre .

I love that there is a preteen club for one child.

I love that there are many families from Cadets in the subdivision so we don't have to drive all the time! We can carpool! Instead of hubby sitting at Cadets for 3 hours on Thursday nights!

I love that I can walk to Church - or choose from three different churches - all within 10 km of my house!

I love that we can bike safely as a family.

I love that today we were able to walk through the back (greenbelt) of our property and find a biking trail that leads from our property through 400 feet of protected woods out to another road. I love that there are these greenbelts all over the area!

I love that a little boy that is our little guys age (and his older sister, and younger sister) live 1/2 km from us!

I love that Sean and Eli and my friend, Shelagh, live 1.4 km from us!!

I love that our big boys both have discovered a friend each (that they already knew from Cadets) that live in the area - biking distance from us! Where we lived before we had no 'boy' friends for our boys, so this is a real neat thing for them!

I love the fact that people actually ride horses to church!!

I LOVE that the pizza place is at the end of our road!! I have not had delivered food in seven years!!

I love that I am not paranoid about the hospital anymore!

I love that I am not paranoid about no fire trucks anymore!

I love that people just drop by here, because we are not too far out!

I love the fact that I can get a babysitter if I want - because they all live near by!

I love the fact that the piano teacher lives down the road and does house calls for $10 a session!

I love the fact that I am getting the house that hubby and I designed, with our family in mind!

There are so many wonderful feelings as we begin this great big adventure!

Wildlife In Our Back Yard

This morning one of my children called to me in great excitement. "DEER!! There's a deer in the back!" I ran upstairs to get a look and sure enough on the back lawn there was a young buck making his way up the hill to the woods beyond!!

Then when hubby came home from work he said the same thing and it was the same buck crossing the back yard!

In our old house we rarely saw the deer. I think because the deer perhaps knew that there was hunting out our way and here in this area it is preserved land and the deer are kept safe. I hear you see them here all the time!!

Oh, speaking of all the time. I forgot! The first time we went to our land our boys saw a fawn out the back. They were within 20 feet of it and they just stood there looking at it and it never moved away!!

I will be thrilled if we feel the country in our new town home!

Water

Water! Oh the joy of water!!! Do you know what it is like to be able to have one child washing a car, another child running a bath, me washing dishes, and a third child sprinkling the lawn???!!!

Sounds normal to you, right? Well, not to us. For the last seven years we have had to be so careful when using the water.

We had to only use one tap at a time or the pump would prime and the water would run out. Try being the one in the shower with your head full of soap when someone else forgot you were using water and ran their tap. The shower would run out and you were left huddling in the cold waiting for 15 minutes for the well to prime again! Believe me we got good at making sure people knew when we were in the shower!

As we figured it was the well we just suffered along and never used more than one tap at a time. When we left we discovered from the well tester that it had nothing to do with the well and the amount of water, it was actually an electrical problem and could have been fixed!!!

So now we can enjoy our water. Of course we don't always use four taps at once though!

CHAOS!!

The day after I got home from the coast (Wednesday) was crazy! We had the Telephone Man and the Television Man coming. I had to go back to the old house to do a House Clean. What a mess! I thought I had left the house clean, but I guess once all the furniture is moved all the dust bunnies come out! I scrubbed and cleaned and in about 5 hours we were done.

Here are some pictures of the view on the way to town from our old home,






the corner store (this is 1/2 way from us to town),

Store

the Post Office where our mail is collected,

Post Office and Hardware Store

and a sign that a neighbour made showing that Small Towns are good. He made this sign when the government was shutting down our little rural school.

I went home from the house and on the way we saw a bear!! We got really close to it.

Up Close and Personal With a Bear

When I got home I found out the Telephone Man had a problem and couldn't connect the phone and the Television Man had a heavy accent and he couldn't understand my instructions over the phone to him and therefore the TV was hooked up in the wrong place.

On top of all this I should mention that it was now Wednesday and we had been in the house since Monday - three days. And there was still no fridge and stove!!! We knew we moved in early and therefore it might not be finished being built (I didn't mention that our rental was a brand spanking new house), but the builder said it would be ready.

So we ordered pizza the first three nights and then hubby was tired of it. *I* on the other hand loved not having to cook. Mind you, ordering four large pizzas to feed our family gets a tad expensive three days in a row!! Thursday came and went and still no fridge and stove. Finally I called the builder on the Friday and left a message stating it was getting rather expensive feeding our family on pizza every night. By now we were running out of groceries and having to use the cooler to create a fridge. And what a pain!!!

Cleaning the Barbeque When We Had No Stove.

I made the suggestion that couldn't they buy a fridge and stove from within the store - cause apparently when I talked to the store they had ordered from, the stuff was on back order and would not come in for another week or two!!!! Later that day we got our fridge and stove. The fridge ended up having its door on backwards - the builder is having *this* repaired when the microwave hood fan comes in.

Speaking of microwaves. The builder's wife came by on the Thursday and told me the stuff would be arriving soon. I said I had the microwave so was surviving with the baby food etc. On the Friday when the fridge and stove arrived she said I would get the microwave when the back order came in - a couple weeks. Well, at that point I didn't want to tell her that on Thursday evening my microwave caught fire!!! *sick laugh* so I no longer had *that*!

On the Thursday the Telephone Man came back for the third attempt at getting our line installed and finally got it working.

Two Curious Little Boys

The other excitement we had was that on Thursday night I was having an icecream craving - not uncommon for me! I went to the basement. This was a good thing!!!

I heard a noise and thought, "What on earth!!??" I went to the furnace room and found a FLOOD!!! When I looked up I saw water coming from EVERYWHERE!!! It was not just one pipe leaking. I could not figure out where it came from, so I turned off the breakers and called the builder AGAIN!

He called me at 7:30 the next morning (Friday) and came over. We had a nice chat as we filled up the bathtub in our master bathroom. Then we checked the basement for leaks. Sure enough it was flooding again. We ran down to the floor directly below our bathroom and found the water running down the wall and we could hear the water sounding like it was *raining* into the 'box' on the ceiling. Boy, you should have see the builder drop his 'nice chat' attitude and start to panic and sweat!! We grabbed buckets and towels and he quickly cut open the ceiling and we found the problem. The bathtub had not been connected to the pipe and the water was flowing directly into the box and down the walls and electrical plugs and down into the floor two floors down. WOW!! He got hold of the plumber and the plumber arranged to come on the Saturday to repair it.

So now we had had: no fridge and stove for four days; a microwave that caught fire; a telephone that refused to hook up; a satelite hooked up in the wrong place; and a flood. What an exciting start!

That day (Friday) was the day we completed the deal on our land. Hubby went to the land and began clearing and I stayed home with the little ones and let them play. Now I have to tell you I had some really nice warm fuzzies that day! I had my fridge and stove coming, the leak was being dealt with, hubby was on the land, I was moved in, and my little ones were happily playing on the hillside outside the door. I should just mention the lot we are on is not a safe one for kids.

First we are on a hill and the house is above a busy road. Our children are used to the country. They are used to going out to play and not having to watch for traffic or worry about falling down a hill (very steep) into a road!

The first thing that happened were two children were throwing rocks and a car came along and 'ping'! And a woman in a car threw her hands up to her face in shock! Thankfully my mischievious little boys (who did not intend to hit a car!) came quickly to me and confessed! The woman kept driving and that was the end up that. But they *all* learned what would happen if they threw rocks at the road any more!

Then two little boys decided to rock climb - down the cliff face that leads onto the above mentioned busy road!! Ooops!!! NO! NO! *weak smile*

Shortly after another child was caught just as he was about to ride his new bike down the winding staircase - that leads directly to the steep incline to the road!

Nicely Landscaped But Dangerous Yard Where Little Boys Are Told - "Don't...."

Now this property was nicely landscaped just for us. How nice is that do you think??!! Well, *I* am the Queen of Plant Killers!!! What a responsibility he has given me!!! Then on top of that he has planted wee baby grass all over the place. So my children are presently hearing:

Don't walk on the grass; don't climb the cliffs over the road; don't ride your bike down the winding staircase; don't slide down the very steep embankment behind the house - almost a 100% incline!!!; etc etc. They quickly had to learn their boundaries. It is not really a kid friendly property. In a few weeks they can walk on the grass and in the meantime they are over on our land where there are trees to climb, brush piles to build forts in and tons of dirt to dig in!

Okay, so back to my warm fuzzies *smile* - I had two little guys out the door, within my eyeshot. They were digging on the hill.

Shortly later one came to me and said, "Mum, can I have a bag?" "Why?" "I want to catch an animal." Well, being a busy mother and I was doing the banking I just let it go and said no. Off they went again. A little while later the next one came to me and said, "Mum! That animal tried to KILL me!" So I asked him what this animal looked like. He got down on his stomach and craned his neck up in the air. *I* had no idea what animal this was. So off he went again.

A little later the boys come back and they have a stick and on this stick there is a CATERPILLAR!!! *laugh*

"The Animal" They Caught

They were so thrilled. "Look Mum, I caught the animal!' One little guy was quickly dispatched to go and get some twigs, "Go get some trees. I'm going to make him a playpen." Little Brother willing ran off to find some twigs. They rigged up a little tent looking playpen and of course the caterpillar could get out anywhere!!

Little Brother wouldn't have anything to do with it. He was scared stiff!! At one point BigLittle Brother needed consoling! I told him that the caterpillar would one day wrap himself up in a blanket and take a nap and then one day he would wake up and eat a hole in his blanket and come out a BUTTERFLY! He immediately went and got some clothes that were near by and created a 'bed'. "I make him a bed. Next him be a butterfly. Get him in bed."

Caterpillar Bed (Cocoon)

They continued to play with this caterpillar and at one point it was on the ground and Big Brother said, "Watch your boots. Don't step on him. Poor him will be dead."

All the boys are loving the deck. They race their ride on toys up and down.

Their Pedal Bikes

I also bought the little boys a new patio set. The little guy thinks it is just wonderful!

Enjoying the Sun