$10,000 and a Logging Road

$10,000 and a Logging Road

So it's been a few weeks since my last post. I guess this is becoming more of a Toby blog than a Martin blog. Ah well, we'll try get Alysha to post soon right?

What's with the 10 Grand? Well, about two Fridays ago (Nov 10) we finalized the paper work for a $10,000 line of credit for..whatever. A good start for that kind of thing. Alysha is also the primary on that one, but it is under both our names. As well, the bank confirmed that giving us the mortgage we'd need wouldn't be an issue.

The 11th was a bit of a lonely work day as most other folks had plans for the day already.
Yesterday though was quite the day with my Father-in-law, John, as we carved a logging road from his back yard to our property. With the help of his tractor, chipper, and his mad chainsaw skills, we carved about 80' of trail or so. The tractor has a front bucket which helps to move just about anything out of our way. Once that road is complete then we can simply use the tractor to go back and forth to carry out logs and drag the chipper where we need it. Why not move the chipper with manpower? Don't let it's size fool you. It's build to hold a solid flywheel (large metal disc with sharp edges). It's like trying to move a 200lb wheelbarrow!

Yesterday was a full day with many more to come. If anyone would like to help out in way please let us know! We'd like to be able to solicit everyone, but exasperating our friends and family is not a practice I'm not fully comfortable with yet. :)

Bankers & Septic Bedsby Toby

Bankers & Septic Beds
by Toby

Well this past Friday Alysha and I went to a pre-pre-approval meeting with a lady from Scotiabank. I was hoping for some split desks and split laptops, but alas, such was not the case. We did however learn that the there would not be any foreseeable problem approving use for the mortgage we'd need. We did expect that for the building process, it was more advisable to come up with the money ourselves through Alysha's father, John's, line of credit. Barb the banker will also put in a request for an ordinary line of credit just ot see what we'd get. We'll hear more about that on Monday.






Back at the property on Saturday I had another day of sawing and sweat. My bud Ryan came and helped me out. He also brought his dogs, Jesse (skinny red), and Noden along. They had a great time wearing out Amos. :D

He and I did a pretty good job of making a dent in the back yard area. I was thinking that's where the septic might go, but now we have thoughts of moving it a bit aways from where we'd been cutting. Oi! Ah well. Plans can change when there's time to do it, right?

[To the right is a view from the house clearing to the road, through the opening where the driveway would go.]

A word from Toby...

A word from Toby...

So the word is gradually getting out. We're building a house! Crazy, we know. But that's what life is, no?

To give a little backstory, when Alysha and I got married last June 4th, Alysha's parents offered us some of their land. We could either build on it, save it for whatever, or let them build a house on it and have them give us the value of the land after they had sold the house. We chose option 'A'.

Thus the tremedous house-building 'process' began..

The first step was to get approval for the land severance from city council. That was fulfilled on Sept 20, in the midst of crowds of onlookers..well, ok, there were only about 10 of us in the little side room. Three of them were there for their own land approvals and there were 5 staff present besides myself and my father-in-law John.

I also must say that we would not ever have gone through with this craziness had Alysha's parent's not offered to help us through this. John is a respected contractor in town and he would be nowhere without the backing of his wife Sandy.

After the severance was approved the surveyer came and put down the corner pegs while 'the team' solidified the house design. This is also when I began clearing trees and brush on the severed property (now officially 3 acres!) with the help of my bro-in-law, Luke 'the Logger', and whomever else joined the cause (including Amos, their dog). 'Non-family' recruits thus far include Andy 'the Axe-Man' Nicholson, Brad 'Biceps' Hunt, and Jason 'Juggernaut' McFadyen.

It may not look like much at the moment, but a lot has been cleared. Unfortunately, a lot still needs to be cleared. Looking to finish up the house area and then push deeper into the well and septic areas. We will also include some drawings of the house and property later on.

[path from the Best's back yard]

[the beginning of the chaos..er..clearing]

[a little less cluttered]

Please pray for our process as we want to do this the smart way, God's way. :)