Basement !

The forms were removed from the basement walls last Tuesday (the day after Adams poured our walls) and they were sprayed with the black rubberized foundation coating on Thursday. Pea stone was also placed around the exterior and interior at the base of the walls. It is easier to picture the view that we will have of the tree line now that the walls are in. It is also bizarre to walk down into the "basement" and hear an echo when someone talks or makes a noise. Our neices and nephew from Columbus enjoyed running up and down the dirt piles from our excavation of the basement.

"Barn Raising"

Saturday and Sunday were spent working out on the property with friends and family. We were blessed with absolutely gorgeous weather and lots of helping hands. Many thanks to Dad (s) Forbes and Chauvin, Brian, Chris, Jason, Mike and our brother-in-law Vince. We were able to place the last 2 front posts, set the 18 roof trusses and nail up a good deal of the OSB siding onto the frame.

Pole Barn Progression

The Pole Barn continues to progress. The girder boards are all now up, and Ade and his dad continue to cut "bird mouth" notches out at the tops of the posts to place the header boards. We have Dad Chauvin as well as friends from church coming out on Saturday to help put up all of the trusses as well as the OSB siding, and maybe even the OSB roofing. Menards will deliver the rest of the pole barn package on Wednesday out to the property. The county Soil and Erosion department inspector stopped by the property to wave our permit, and noted that it was a pretty nice horse corral.

More Walls!

Adams Poured Wall was out in full force on Monday to set the metal forms and to pour the walls! They used a gigantic pump to shoot concrete in between the forms to create the 8 inch thick walls. The 5 basement windows and the sliding patio door forms were slipped down in between the metal forms seen in the pictures, so that the concrete could form around them.

Walls!

Ade and his Dad continue to work on nailing up the girders on the sides and back of the Pole Barn. While we were out on the property today, Adams Poured Wall delivered all of the forms for the basement walls. They will be back out on Monday to start work on setting and pouring.

House Footings or Giant Sand Box?

Monday, October 8 ~ We awoke to another exciting morning of fun things happening out on the property. Adams Poured Wall (Grass Lake) met us at the property at 8am to begin the work of setting the "forms" (which just so happen to be our "drain tile" too) as well as digging our deep footings and jackpost footings. Wes was the head of this 2 man crew who did a wonderful job. The cement truck arrived early in the afternoon to pour all of the footings. It was very interesting to watch the whole process.

Caber Toss or Pole Barn?

Saturday, October 6 through Monday, October 8 ~ Ade, Dad Forbes and myself started digging the 12" wide by 42" deep post holes for the post frame garage that we will build ourselves. Tom Nolte, the Grass Lake building inspector stopped by Monday morning to inspect the house footings and the post holes for the garage. He said everything looks great. Ade and Dad Forbes set the 4 corner posts, and started working on some of the side wall posts.

Houston, We Have Lift Off!

Friday, October 5 ~ We awoke Friday morning excited and ready to embark on the massive undertaking of building our new home. Mike and Ron of RPM Excavating (Grass Lake) met us at our property at 8am, ready to start moving massive amounts of earth. Mike's morning greeting was "Let's Dig Some Basement!". RPM excavating did an excellent job of digging our walkout basement, leveling/grading our post frame garage floor and also getting the front half of our driveway raised by 2 feet to even it out (using dirt from the excavation). They will cut the second half of the driveway and then lay the appropriate amounts of stone/gravel along the entire drive in the next week or so.

Last Views of the "Grassy Knoll"

Thursday, October 4 ~ We took one last pre dig trek to the property to double check house layout, elevations, and other miscellaneous items.

Sugar Maple Saplings

We planted 100 sugar maple saplings from the Jackson Conservation District this past spring. The goal is to harvest sap 25 years down the road when the trees are large enough . . .







Furrows for the saplings
(yes, that's Ade with a hoe in one hand and a Sam Adams in the other)









Ade finishing the watering after the pump stopped working on our irrigation/watering system





Cody on patrol

Forbes Farms 2007

We have some recent digital pictures of the kitchen garden that we planted on the property this
summer as an experiment to see what would grow. Things turned out pretty well for the most part.





Crimson Sweet watermelon

Yellow Disk sunflowers








Heirloom Connecticut Field Pumpkins







Cody and I by the Swiss Chard, Brocolli, Collards and Brussel Sprouts










Heirloom Striped German tomatoes

Log Homes vs. Castles

Ade and I will finally close on our construction loan today at 4pm EST. It looks as though our excavating sub-contractors (RPM excavating, Grass Lake) will begin digging Friday morning for the foundation of our basement and also the foundation for the pole barn structure garage we will be building at the same time the basement is being constructed. Our foundation and flat work sub-contractors (Adams Poured Wall, Grass Lake) will begin the process of pouring the footings on Monday as well as working on the basement framing so that the basement walls can be poured shortly thereafter. In the meantime, here is a link for the Log Home Company that we are purchasing our package through (Forbes Log Home, Grass Lake, Michigan, USA)

http://www.rapidriverrustic.com/





Craigievar Forbes Clan Castle, Aberdeen, Scotland

(Scotland trip 2005)










A wee dram of Glen Ord single malt scotch whiskey may be needed throughout the project . . .

(Scotland trip 2005)