Foundation Permit At Last

This is week three for Chris and me on Cape Cod. I could remark, where
has the time gone, but I know from the sore muscles and exhausted state
that I find myself in every night that I have been working hard. This
week my daffodils bloomed that I worked so hard to plant last fall.
Whenever I am working in the yard or walking from the house to the
garage they catch my eye and I stop to appreciate them.  Now that I know
they will prosper in this soil I will plant another 150 this fall. 

Chris and I spent a morning this week transplanting 8 small cedar trees
from our woodsy area to the edge of the property closest to the town parking
lot. Our hope is that they will grow quickly, block the cars, trucks and
trailers and make a natural screen. It took some digging to get them out
of the ground and into their new location but the rain predicted for the
next couple of days should ensure their survival. 

We also made a lot of research trips on alternate days so we didn't get
too discouraged with moving items from the house to the second floor of
the garage. We had 2 long meetings with different kitchen designers that
were very productive. I certainly hadn't thought of all the issues that they addressed. I'm  just so used to working with wherever I find
myself.  And I have to admit that I never thought about being left
handed in the kitchen. We are considering an eco-healthy cabinet that
satisfies all my indoor pollution concerns and sensibilities.  And we are thinking about
using carrera marble with honed black granite complemented by stainless
steel appliances.  Apparently the cost of marble is reasonable and the
price of  granite has come down considerably. Another day we devoted to
window selection, a large ticket item with 29 windows. Chris is known
for choosing the first thing he sees. Not me, I have to exhaust every
possibility. So I chased down Eagle windows vs  the ubiquitous Anderson,
vinyl vs aluminum, large company vs Green Mountain windows manufactured
in Vermont. We are learning a lot and I am driving Chris crazy.

Every night I get on the computer and look for more products. A few I
have discovered are Vermont Natural Casing, a wooden floor finish that
is made out of cheese whey. A toilet that hangs on the wall. And the
most exciting idea is "Green Demolitions". This non-profit company sells
complete kitchens extremely reasonably that are showroom samples or
kitchens that are being replaced by homeowners. We figure that if we run
out of money when it comes to kitchen time we will buy one of these for
peanuts. If you are curious, check this out!

Today, Friday, was a big day for Chris. He bought a dump sticker. Now he
can visit the "transfer station" any time he wants. Other years, we were
aggressive recyclers, put our vegetable waste in our compost pile in the
yard and then paid $10 for the privilege to use the dump maybe once
every three weeks. But this year the price has gone up to $13 and we
have much more garbage.  Chris is very happy to have joined the race of
men who like to hang around the dump.

And then after a budget meeting with our builder that was monetarily
sobering, we learned that our foundation permit was ready to be picked
up from the building inspector. We were momentarily stunned. Could this
really be the end of all the anxiety and the waiting and the beginning
of construction. WE quickly drove to the Hyannis office, wrote out
another healthy check and grabbed our permit. Chris yelled "Hot Dog" as
we left the building. We rushed back to the cottage, grabbed our bottle
of Prosecco, popped the cork and poured 2 glasses. Maybe you can tell by
the picture that we just can't believe it. It's been a long, long time
coming.

Well, this is just about the end of April on Cape Cod. The female osprey
is sitting on the nest while her companion occupies a dock post nearby.
The grass is green and the "lawn boys" are busy trying to get it in
order. The summertime boats are being launched daily as the docks are
being put in. And the infamous Four Seas Ice Cream shop stuck out their
"Open in May sign". Ah, cranberry sherbet, that's something to look
forward to!

Commencement - Work Line Limit

This is our little cottage on Ladd Neck on the Centerville River.  Chris' father bought it for his mother as a Christmas present  in 1959.  Nothing much has been done to it since then. Most of Chris' family has lived in it or vacationed in it over the years. But Chris and I bought it in December 2009 because we decided we wanted to make it our year around house.  Two years ago we met with  Cape Cod contractor, Paul Pacella, whom Glenna met while they were both doing volunteer work at Barnstable High School. Since then Paul has helped us navigate the  shoals and hazards of the building permitting process. It was a long and frustrating trial.  But at last we are starting.

As soon as we got back to Cape Cod in mid April we met with our builder and he told us that we could start working on our remodeling project. That news took us by surprise.
Everyone knows how long this has taken and how many set backs we have
met.   All along Chris and I have expressed an interest in being
included in the work and Paul has agreed that we can be there every step
of the way. Being involved will save us money and make us feel invested
in our house.

Our first assignment was literally awesome. If we could do it we would
save $1000 in labor fees so we were ready to try.  We had to fulfill the
Conservation Committee's requirements of installing a "work line limit".
This involved placing 100 straw hay bales along  a three hundred foot
designated line. We didn't think this would be a problem until we saw
the huge pile that was thrown off the truck. So it looked like a lot but
 we figured if we  paced ourselves we would be able to get it done. That
was what we thought until we tried picking one up and realized that each
bale weighed 50 pounds. Now 50 pounds times 100 bales is 5,000 pounds,
isn't that right? Kind of makes you feel weak in the knees. But Chris
had a strategy. He had a 2 wheeler in the garage and we figured out how
to use it to move the bales around. When we were done, and we did get it
all done in a day, we couldn't believe how long a line there was snaking
around our property. We took lots of pictures to chronicle the effort
and went back to the lake house where we are living victorious but
exhausted.

The next days assignment was to research, purchase, and install the silt
fence behind the hay bales. This is black fabric with stakes attached
that we had to pound into the ground about every 6-8 feet. Once again,
three hundred feet looked like a lot of territory to cover but we just
stuck with it and watched the ospreys soaring through the air and diving
for fish. We are so lucky to be working in such a beautiful place. The
sky was blue and it was actually a warm spring day. At the end of the
day we  set up a couple of chairs, enjoyed a glass of wine and admired
our property trimmed with materials that say "A construction project is
about to begin here."  

But we knew the biggest challenge was yet to come. On the third day we
had to install 2  three foot stakes in every hay bale. Yes, the count is
200 stakes driven through the bale and then into the ground. This looked
almost impossible to do when we eyed all those stakes piled up in the
garage. So we thought that we would just make a goal for the day of
getting 100 feet done. Chris started pounding the first couple of stakes
in.  I thought I would help by placing them in the bale until I
discovered that if I put all my body weight into it I could push the
stake almost all the way through the bale. That meant that Chris only
had to pound it into the ground. It was a gray day and only about 40
degrees but we just kept at it and along the way I got into pounding the
stakes in also. We ended up putting in 175 stakes before we just
couldn't swing the mallet any more. But looking back along the property
we just couldn't believe that we had done it. We still have 25 stakes to
do but that feels like nothing and left it for another day.

On Monday we will photograph our work and present it to the Conservation
Commission. If accepted they will stamp our application and we are ready
for the septic system to be installed. In order for that to happen my
brother is coming from Vermont to take down the trees within the
construction zone. WE are hoping that this will give us even better
water views. But that's for another day.

It seems like we are starting this project just at the right time. The
ospreys have returned to the nest at the end of the street. The
daffodils I planted last fall are just about to bloom. Summer neighbors
are returning to their cottages and we hear kids playing baseball across
the water. The docks are going in and the herring are swimming up stream
to spawn.