Blocking the......driveway!

Blocking the.....driveway!

So that reference really only makes sense to me and my family. But if there are any Frank De Lima fans out there I didn't know about - good on you!

Two days later, we have what could be called a driveway. My Dad estimates it at 600ft or so....I grew up with the metric system.

The clearing process started yesterday - lots of shopping and then continued with my getting stuck behind General Lee. It continued with my meeting the world's cutest little 6 year old boy - who came running up to me at the local store and asked me if he could take a picture with me because he'd never met anyone who'd been to California, and didn't know cars could go that far. I told him cars would go as far as you could drive them - and his eyes got so big, I now understand the phrase 'as big as saucers'. I seriously wanted to put him in my pocket and carry him around with me.

All hail the general!

But I digress. Holy buckets. we got a lot done in two afternoons - the highlight of yesterday was (unfortunately un-photographed) getting the well open. The well was capped many years ago, and getting the damn thing open was quite the ordeal. We had tried with penetrating oil and tappong the threads, but to no avail. Yesterday my dad bought the biggest pipe wrench I've ever seen (48 inches long - I think it opens up to a 10 or so inch pipe), and even that wouldn't open the thing. Two big strong guys, the giant pipe wrench with a 4ft pipe shoved on the end of it, me guiding the wrench on the pipe, and my mom tapping the threads to get the damn thing open. It was insane. Even then it was back breaking. But we got the thing open and found to our delight that, a) it has water in it, b) the water is clear and cold, and c) the water doesn't taste like anything (always a good thing. We will be testing it, though. No worries there).

Fortifying the bellies of both myself and the chainsaw.

The highlight of today was our neighbors bringing the bush hog over to mow down the driveway and the meadows, as well as work their butts off to get everything cleared, trimmed, limbed, and in some cases moderately excavated. It was awesome! The guys took turns on the chainsaw finishing up the not enviable task of cutting down the remaining trees, winching out the big/oddly placed ones, and so forth. The rest of us trimmed, hauled, dragged, got rid of the rest. I bought some new loppers today that made all of that so much easier, and our neighbors brought over a pole saw.

So pretty....


...from every angle.

The STAR of the day was the new chainsaw. Woot!

It's so wee. And so mighty.

Zora kept retrieving things we threw to the side...include huge wedges of wood. She carried this one around for about a half an hour. Hilarious.

Now we have meadows, a driveway, a newly unearthed ornamental pear tree, a clear path & site for the airstream - and a great sense of satisfaction and optimism. Granted sitting outside in the beautiful countryside with our neighbors drinking an after work beer could have contributed to that feeling. That or the BBQ we had when we got back. Tomorrow: (hopefully) trailer wrangling!

Driveway!


Before....


....After!