Finally Bought Some Land

[ides1056]

This is a very rare Douglas's Western Connecticut Orange bash bish Newt. It has recently been discovered and is an endangered species with very local habitat in only a few forests. I am very sorry to inform you, that you can no longer build on the property.

Isn't this fun...you should never post a picture on the internet brings all sorts of unwanted attention.

He's yanking your chain.

[j44ke]

Since buying this land, my chain has been yanked enough I had to replace a few links, so I am pretty used to it. And probably deserve it. I am still kind of worried we are going to find a uranium dump at some point.

Speaking of the danger of posting photos, I did remove some of the floor plans and architects' drawings at my wife's request. She was afraid someone would see early stage drawings and think it was finished work. Best if people see only finished work. I can see her point. Don't want to mess things up as a reward to them for doing such a great job - and they are doing a great job.

Some of the vines are huge. The amazing part is I am often only getting 1/10th of the whole thing. I sawed apart another large one today. I am using these Japanese saws made by Silky. They cut really fast (on the pull) and they are tiny. Actually one of these is a Felco saw. Not the same. Buy the Silky (note to self.)

[rwsaunders]

Jorn...are you singing Monty Python's The Lumberjack Song whilst you destroy that evil root? At least the first few lines...

BARBER:
I wanted to be... a lumberjack!

Leaping from tree to tree, as they float down the mighty rivers of British Columbia. The Giant Redwood. The Larch. The Fir! The mighty Scots Pine! The lofty flowering Cherry! The plucky little Apsen! The limping Roo tree of Nigeria. The towering Wattle of Aldershot! The Maidenhead Weeping Water Plant! The naughty Leicestershire Flashing Oak! The flatulent Elm of West Ruislip! The Quercus Maximus Bamber Gascoigni! The Epigillus! The Barter Hughius Greenus!

With my best girl by my side, we'd sing! Sing! Sing!

[singing]
I'm a lumberjack, and I'm okay.
I sleep all night and I work all day.

MOUNTIES:
He's a lumberjack, and he's okay.
He sleeps all night and he works all day.

BARBER:
I cut down trees. I eat my lunch.
I go to the lavatory.
On Wednesdays I go shoppin'
And have buttered scones for tea.

MOUNTIES:
He cuts down trees. He eats his lunch.
He goes to the lavatory.
On Wednesdays he goes shopping
And has buttered scones for tea.

He's a lumberjack, and he's okay.
He sleeps all night and he works all day.

[j44ke]

A friend in the city sent me the video for that this morning, after I sent this photo when she asked where I was. Do I look like a lumberjack? I think I was just cold (30F this morning.)



Besides I have a saw, not an axe.



Nice day to be in the woods, whatever the case.

[ides1056]

You are going to want a chain saw. Get a Stihl MS271. Use biodegradable bar oil. Chaps, helmet, gloves. I have various hand saws, pole saws, etc, but you are taking on the White Whale with a pen knife.

[s_curran]

I've got a Silky Big Boy. Amazing, I've even used it to cut up a dead 8-10" round hardwood tree.

[ides1056]

They are perfect to take along on a bike. I have a long one that I've cable-tied to the frame.

[j44ke]

You are going to want a chain saw. Get a Stihl MS271. Use biodegradable bar oil. Chaps, helmet, gloves. I have various hand saws, pole saws, etc, but you are taking on the White Whale with a pen knife.

The first trees that will be taken down will be around the house site and the driveway, and someone else will be doing the sawing then. Occasionally I get a thick vine, but it only takes a couple minutes to go through them.

Eventually I will need a chainsaw, and that looks like a good recommendation. I'll mark it down in my notebook along with the Honda snowblower and the several tractor/gator/quad recommendations I have.

Today I was working on a really old vine, and it went from the base of one tree (dead) to a second tree (dying) and then to a third tree (alive) all about 35' up in the air. I don't know how the heck you'd cut the standing dead tree and the nearly dead tree without KO'ing the living tree in the process. So that's one for the arborist, if we take any of them down. Sort of a yin and yang balance - we want to leave some standing dead wood as habitat for woodpeckers, owls, flying squirrels, etc., but in areas where we plan to build paths, we'll have to take down the ones that could fall without warning.

But all in good time. We haven't even started the foundation yet!

[Jason Musgrave]

+1 to the Stihl 271. You're gonna need a legit chainsaw sooner or later.

That said I used to occasionally pretend to be an arborist and those Silky's are fantastic saws for tree-work (I have an Ibuki)

[j44ke]

+1 to the Stihl 271. You're gonna need a legit chainsaw sooner or later.

That said I used to occasionally pretend to be an arborist and those Silky's are fantastic saws for tree-work (I have an Ibuki)

I saw that one in the local gardening center in Great Barrington and had definite saw envy. Still might have to go get it, but I am basically done for the season. When the temps go down, the vine killing technique requires switching to an oil-based herbicide (triclopyr 4) because the plants are no longer taking on water above ground or moving starch down into the roots (as I understand it.) I figure I've done enough in several different areas to test for efficacy. I really want to keep total pesticides use down, even though the oil-based is supposed to stay put better. We'll see.

Just spent half of yesterday locating the pad for the transformer and plotting out the footprint of the house and garage with the architects. Pretty cool to see the overall size of the place. We are going to have to use some creative land excavation/contouring/fill to level the area under the garage as there are seams of rock that run through the area. The rock we take out of the ground to level the site will go into a rough and tumble rock wall around the turn-around area and along the drainage route to keep water out of the garage.

I've been looking at photos of this crazy cool hotel in Norway called The Juvet, made famous as the set for the movie Ex Machina. I think we can use these images as a guide for some of our landscaping. Goodness knows we have plenty of rocks and moss, and aspens and birches love the soil here.

[ides1056]

I did a stewardship plan a few years ago through the USDA. They gave me copies of aerial photographs taken in the '50s of the land we own, and advised me to concentrate my efforts to renew fields that were open then. Good advice. I'd contact your local office and find out what resources they have that work for you.

As long as you are going to the trouble of cutting those vines, they make great material for furniture if the diameters are as great as they appear in photograph. Cut 8"6" lengths if you can.

Stihl does a good job of providing training literature for using their saws. They also pioneered many of the safety features. They are potentially deadly.

[j44ke]

Here are some details others might find helpful when buying land.

We bought two 16 acre lots for a total of 32 acres (I do math gud.) So that meant we got two property tax bills, one for each lot. My wife called the accessor (typical small town accessors usually only answer the phone a couple hours one day a week btw) and asked whether it made sense financially to rejoin the properties. The accessor said yes, because each parcel is considered to have up to 3 acres of developable land that are taxed at a higher rate than any remaining acres which are not considered developable. Since two separate properties would each have 3 acres for a total of 6 acres taxed at the higher rate, rejoining the two would be less expensive.

Also if the two properties share a boundary between them, that interior boundary will still have setback requirements even though both parcels are owned by the same person(s). Additionally, any no-cut zones prescribed by the town along that interior boundary in order to preserve privacy of neighboring development envelopes will still be in effect, again even though both lots are owned by the same person and even if only one lot is going to be developed.

And if the original subdivision was a part of a multi-lot subdivision of a larger property, you may need to get the agreement of adjoining owners of other lots from that original subdivision if such is stated in the covenants and restrictions for the property.

Fortunately we have a civil engineer with many local knowledges who has shepherded us through the process of un-sub-dividing our property.

Now if we can just get NYSEG to cough up their electrical design and trench requirements (along with the bill for the connection + pole + transformer) I can unleash our genius excavator and we'll be set for the winter.

Back in the city now. Tough to leave.

[xjoex]

Somewhat inspired by Jorn we are moving further in to the mountains (closer to RMNP). But with the main goal of having more land for the dogs as we are fully committed to being crazy dog people. Anyhow it borders national forest on two sides, so we have trails to make!

But my current conundrum is a 1/4 mile driveway to plow. To get a new ATV with a plow or a used jeep and buy a plow. I need reliability more than just pushing snow ability. Don't want to jump start, etc in 5° and snow. Oh the googling and craigslisting I have done...

We close in two weeks.


-Joe

[rwsaunders]

^ The answer is...sled dogs, Joe.

[j44ke]

Somewhat inspired by Jorn we are moving further in to the mountains (closer to RMNP). But with the main goal of having more land for the dogs as we are fully committed to being crazy dog people. Anyhow it borders national forest on two sides, so we have trails to make!

But my current conundrum is a 1/4 mile driveway to plow. To get a new ATV with a plow or a used jeep and buy a plow. I need reliability more than just pushing snow ability. Don't want to jump start, etc in 5° and snow. Oh the googling and craigslisting I have done...

We close in two weeks.


-Joe

Very cool. We expect many more glamorous outdoor photos this winter. I've been to that park and it is some kind of special place. Amazing to have all that in your backyard. Are you building a new house or is there already one on the land?

Seems like every pickup truck up in Hillsdale has a plow attachment on the front. According to a friend who lives nearby, the debate is always when to actually attach the plow to the truck. Too soon and you have this ridiculous weight on the front of the truck in 60F weather. Too late, and you have to hire someone with a plow to dig out your truck so you can put the plow on it. And putting the plow on and taking it off sounds like a PITA.

I know some people have a Kubota tractor or Bobcat they use for snow removal in the winter and landscaping the rest of the year, but I know we don't get the same snowfall you must have in Colorado.

Whatever you get, keep it hooked up to a trickle charger in a heated garage and it should start just fine.

[ides1056]

We have a Kawasaki Mule with a plow- good for touch up, but not for wholesale removal of snow. Quarter mile driveways are best cleared with a 50 horse tractor with snowblower. Ours is 1000'+, and takes twenty minutes. I'd go for the Jeep. Around here you are allowed a "yard truck" that does not have to be registered. Our farm came with one. It worked well enough, but when you get dumped on, nothing beats the blower. Tractors rock.

Re tax bills: We have similar issues with land two sides of road, etc. MA is a bit easier to manage in this department than NY.

[j44ke]

We just got the bid specs from the architects. One 40+ page (18x24") engineering document and another 80+ page detail (door knobs, faucets, etc) document. Kind of overwhelming. These now go to the contractors who will bid on the project. We'll see what we get back. We've already had one contractor tell us they "don't do competitive bidding" which sounds like an effing prima donna to me, but whatever. I guess they have enough work they can stick their nose up at us, even though they are the smallest operation up there. Ironically, the one contractor who has the best reputation and has built the most modern houses in the area (two in Hillsdale alone) was pretty psyched about the whole thing and really eager to see the plans when my expectation was we'd be told to get in line, you know? So you never know what's going to happen. And part of this process will be visiting finished and in process buildings for each contractor to see first hand the quality of their work.

We still haven't gotten the packet from NYSEG, the electrical utility, with the bill and plans for installation of a pole w/tensioning support, underground wire, transformer and meter. Every time I talk to someone, they say "Why don't you just do it in the spring?" I just know that if we leave it to the spring, we'll be in a long line of people trying to get their projects going. If our electrical is done now, then we'll have a leg up on all the other projects in the area and be able to get to the next step first so there's less scheduling competition for other things. Just seems smart to me. But it may be moot as the electrical utility seems to have inertia issues.

[davids]

Jorn,

That's exciting. Both my wife and I are big fans of having the whole job spec'ed in advance. It will get you to the point of apples-to-apples contractor evaluations, and it's a roadmap to completion.

At the other end of the spectrum from us, friends have been living with a raw support column in the middle of their open-plan living/dining room for the last nine months while they think about how they want to finish it. Hey, if they're OK with it so are we.

[ides1056]

Wow, Jorn. When I built my house I went to the inspector with a plan drawn on a napkin. He showed up two years later, wandered through, pronounced, " you look like you know what you are doing," and left, never to return.

Our house is Jack Sobon's second book. My wife and I are sitting on the roof in the cover shot.

Working up a bid is time consuming, but if the contractor can't be bothered, ditch them. Ballpark? 4- 600/ sq ft. I'd be sitting when the numbers come back.

[j44ke]

I have dreams where the architect says well we've cut things to get within budget and here is the new design (cut to image of a tent or a cement block house with a door and two windows.)