Project Day 1 - Clearning the Property

Note: The "Project Day" number shown in each blog entry represents the total number of days that have elapsed since the first day of clearing the property.

It's finally here. The first day of actually starting to build on our property. Brad, the construction superintendent, called a couple of days ago to let us know that clearing would take place this fine Monday morning.

Dave and I had intended to arrive at the property at 8 AM when they started. But Dave had second thoughts. He wasn't sure how much of the road space would be taken up by the clearing equipment, and he also didn't want us to be in their way.

So, we dawdled and were finally on the road about 10 AM. When we were only half-way there (it's a 45-minute drive from our home to the property), Brad called and wondered where we were. We had not told him we were coming later. And, he's such a good guy, he stuck around until we got there so he could explain the process to us.

Here's a couple of pictures of what we observed upon our arrival.

Dump Truck with Bulldozer Trailer (our property is to the left of the truck)



Dump Truck (We are parked in the cul-de-sac looking back at our property to the right of the truck)



I learned that clearing is a tedious process. First the bulldozer knocks down a few trees. Then, Joshua (grading expert) gets out of the bulldozer to cut up those trees with his chainsaw. He gets back into the bulldozer to push the cut logs out of the way. Then, he knocks down a few more trees and chainsaws them as well. This process continues until the bulldozer has enough room to push more and more trees down and the clearing gets larger and larger.





We hung around a while watching the trees come down and be cut up. But, after a while, it's like watching cars rust! So, we drove into town to do some errands and then stopped by our son's home to say hi.

When we returned to the property, a lot more trees been cut, but there was still quite a lot left to do. The property is 100-ft across the front and back, and it is 174-ft deep.

Bulldozer At Work Later in the Day





We decided not to return on Tuesday because there was still a lot of cutting to do. We opted to come back on Wednesday when the clearing should be almost complete.

Brad had asked us to get permission from our two neighbors to cut down any overhanging trees. So, the next day I called our real estate agent who sold us the property and she went above and beyond to get us the names and phone numbers of both neighbors. I called both and was surprised to learn that one neighbor wasn't even sure where the property was located within the state as her husband had purchased it years ago and she had never seen it. The other neighbor was surprised to learn that there were trees on the property. Looking at the photos, I guess you can tell how long it had been since he had seen the property. Both neighbors kindly gave us permission. However, as it turned out, only one tree was cut.

We drove home very tired from observing others work so hard. We are anxious to come back on Wednesday to see the progress.