Finally Bought Some Land

[j44ke]

Well that doesn't suck. It's either a nice place or some great photo-shopping!

I'm worried about your writing though. It doesn't seem like the pad of a tortured, starving artiste. I am still amazed that you can do something like that closeish to NY without needing to be a gazillionaire.

Well the land was affordable.....

[72gmc]

I'm worried about your writing though. It doesn't seem like the pad of a tortured, starving artiste.

I hadn't thought of it this way. Jorn, tell us about the deprivation and suffering in the plan.

[David Tollefson]

I hadn't thought of it this way. Jorn, tell us about the deprivation and suffering in the plan.

I hear there's money to be made with Hallmark...

[j44ke]

There is no deprivation and suffering in this plan. I do seem to jab myself with dead branches fairly regularly and I am getting more of the same sorts of cuts on my hands I always had whenever I was involved in manual labors. Even that's not a bad thing.

As far as writing - "May you live in interesting times" is the famous curse. Well, we do. So no shortage of things to write about. I just spend an awful lot of time reading floor plans and checking other people's work. Looking looking looking for those weird oversights (for instance, towel rack on shower door hits towel rack on wall when door is opened) that create problems. Sort of like proofreading for a writer, so I am familiar with it, but I haven't written much more than a handful of pages since we started looking for land 4 (I think) years ago. But I've filled a couple notebooks, some times jotting down things on gas station receipts and then copying them into notebooks later. After driving up and back from Columbia County while looking for land, my desk sometimes looked like I had all my receipts saved for tax purposes, but it is what's on the backside that I was saving.

When we started thinking about building this, we wanted air, light and (at least visual) privacy. The opposite of NYC. And we are getting that by spending money. Our karma will be sorely in debt by the end of this, so we will have to do some future planning to make sure we've paid back into the community effort. I signed up as a volunteer for a reseeding effort with the Columbia Land Conservancy recently. There will be more things I hope. Things to do.

[Tamu8104]

This project has been a joy to watch. We moved farther out last year to find a better balance off nature while not loosing all the conveniences of a city. Now we are beginning planning on a wholesale remodel of the existing 1982 ranch to include working with a landscape architect on how to create sustainable, natural beauty to the property (I refuse to install a sprinkler system!)

While it’s fun, catching up on this today also reminds me of the duration of an effort like this and that give me pause.....and reminds me not to enter into this lightly. Looking forward to seeing the final outcome!!

[j44ke]

This was close, but now we don't have to worry about it.



Actually, when the trunk shattered, this big-toothed aspen didn't fall. The arborists came first thing and cleared a pine from the drive and then took this one down to the ground. It did bonk the cover on the propane tank valve, so we'll get that checked.

We lost four thin pines, this aspen and a nice cherry. These trees fell because trees we removed earlier to protect the house no longer supported them during E-NE winds. And last night we got a big storm with very strong E-NE winds. If the trees can withstand the force of the initial gust and wave back and forth, they are usually okay. But if the gust hits the tree hard and with duration enough the tree can't rebound, then it uproots or snaps.

Also tough to keep a tree upright when its roots look like this. Rocks and rocks. Probably not the best place to grow 60' tall, but with surrounding pines, you can eek out a living. The pines were cleared and the root's weak footing was exposed - literally. This is the black cherry tree. More cabinet wood for our cabinet maker friend.

[mnoble485]

I am always amazed at the tenacity of mother nature and the ability of flora and fauna to not only grow but thrive. Roots through rocks!

Mike

[j44ke]

An interesting critter showed up on the game camera.

[j44ke]

House update



Garage update

[Clyde]

Bobcat?

[skouri1]

my parents live farther south in poughkeepsie and i definitely had a bobcat run across the road in front of me while on a bike. of course I saw the trademark tail, but before I even noticed that anatomical detail, I was surprised that it crossed without even looking in my direction. Perhaps it is confident out in nature (not sure what preys upon it in my neck of the woods). Or it just heard no vehicles and smelled nothing in whatever winds might have been blowing in my direction. It was definitely on a mission though, moving briskly and disappearing into some brush before I could get a second look at it, or feather my brakes for that matter.

[Bill Bryant]

I've encountered bobcats a few times while mountain biking in Wilder Ranch near Santa Cruz. As you wrote, they didn't seem terribly worried about me even though I was quite close. I guess I was too big to be a rabbit? We do have mountain lions, which is the only thing I can think of that would be big enough to prey upon it. Anyway, two-wheeled critters don't seem to bother them.

[j44ke]

Yep bobcat. Can’t really tell the sex on this one, though it does look pretty muscular. Not sure if that means male or female though. Certainly not definitive, especially on an B&W infrared photo. They eat a lot of mice, voles, and chipmunks, but their favs are evidently turkeys this time of year, if they can get them. Not much cover, turkeys are distracted by eating acorns. As far as shyness, they do not like dogs or raccoons, but they are 100% confident in their abilities in the dark and even in daylight they can really disappear very quickly. Friends in Arizona had a female who would come and sit in their backyard when they were sitting on their patio having an evening aperitif. Later she brought her kittens to visit. If they were too close, she would disappear but show up the next evening. She did this for a number of years. Confident.

[NorTX-Dave]

Love the game camera images. I live in a very rural county (population ~30,000) about 100 miles west of the Dallas/Ft Worth Metro-mess, and regularly have raccoons, deer, coyotes and the occasional feral hog show up on my game cam.

This confident cat was totally aware and completely unfazed by my presence as I walked down a dirt road not more than 30 feet from him. He almost seemed to be posing for me.

Bobcat.jpg

And this is an Aoudad sheep. A native of the Barbary Coast, these were introduced into Texas in the '40's, and now treated as a game animal. There is a "protected" population in the area where I live and this guy seems to be an alpha male.

aoudad.jpg

[Mark Kelly]

Not to be a downer, but have you given any thought about what you're going to do to help out the local birds? All that glass looks like it's going to be a lethal problem for them, and given the huge reductions we've had in bird populations lately, they need all the help they can get.

I thought of this thread when I read this today:

'Zen curtain' saves birds from hitting glass windows at University of Queensland - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

[j44ke]

I thought of this thread when I read this today:

'Zen curtain' saves birds from hitting glass windows at University of Queensland - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Good idea. Thanks for sending.



Rather not see that in my yard. Looks a bit like Hell Boy - or vice versa.

[Clyde]

I bet they taste good though....

[Mark Kelly]

Good idea. Thanks for sending.

I've been following this thread with interest and sympathy: we are most of the way through building a much smaller house. We made things difficult for ourselves by going passive house on a very tight budget. So far we've avoided the Grand Designs trap; every project on that show seems to go at least 50% over budget.

[ides1056]

An interesting critter showed up on the game camera.

Lucky you. I have seen two in my lifetime. They are incredibly elusive, and magnificent.

[j44ke]

Bobcats are not benefitting from the recent popularity of their furs among the uber-wealthy classes in China evidently. The value of their pelts has tripled in the last 10 years, and Cuomo recently relaxed regulations on hunting bobcats due to the resulting pressure. However, as predators who take a certain number of fawns each year (surprisingly, along with black bears who evidently are good at finding them) they help in the natural culling of deer herds that in a lot of areas are in crisis for disease and starvation due to overpopulation. But I understand - rural areas must see bobcats as an opportunity to pull income out of the land where opportunities are dwindling in almost every other context. And Cuomo is definitely not an environmentally astute governor, so he sees this issue merely to be a win win. Same as it ever was. Amazing we have any predators left at all. That the coyote has been so successful is really incredible.