FOUNDATION SOIL SAMPLES NEW HOUSE UPDATE

 So more things are happening.

Went out yesterday and saw this:

This one was near the back corner of the old house.  At first, we thought animal damage...

But then this one was on the opposite corner of the house footprint.  Wild hogs?  Armadillos?

Then we noticed the spirals of dried clay soil, so it looked like an auger.  We got an email from the builder and they had sent out the soil sampling people.  It was for the foundation design.

This is what they do.  They take the footprint that the new house will sit within and take samples on opposite corners.  They take this data back and analyze it to help design and engineer a strong foundation that will sit on that site with (hopefully) the least amount of settling in the future.

Then we found out that it's already been designed and  is ready to go!

THANKSGIVING DAY 2024

Here we are, Thanksgiving Day has arrived!

The weather here is appropriately cold today because a front came through and it's chilly.  Somehow, that seems appropriate!

We're watching the Houston Thanksgiving Day parade on TV as 2nd Man and I are prepping things in the kitchen.  Turkey, dressing, and a couple of sides.

Today we celebrate our families and friends and everything we have to be thankful for.  This time, I'm especially thankful for another year of good health, here's to many more! 

Thanks to all of you for coming along on our journey year after year.  We both realized today that next year, we will be having our first Thanksgiving in our NEW HOUSE.  We can't even wrap our heads around that but it's coming!

Have a wonderful day, food pics coming in the next few posts!

LAND CLEARING NEW HOME UPDATE

No new home update today, I didn't get all the pictures together and with this being a short week, too much going on and not as many people visiting the blog so we don't want anyone to miss anything.

Today will still be a home update of sorts, the land clearing (at least part one).

Trucks and equipment all over for almost two whole days and they worked their butts off.

We didn't want a burn pile, so they brought their heavy-duty woodchipper.  That thing was insane!  It could chew up almost anything that went in there.

Here are some before and after photos:

This is the area where our old mesquite tree is, the one we call Barnabas (that diagonal branch in the middle is where he's at).  We wanted all this cleared out because it will be too close to the new house (specifically the garage) and just looks like a mess, ha.  Of course we wanted to keep the old tree.  The rest was all brush, vines and mostly trees called "Hackberry".  They are considered junk or trash trees and have a tendency to fall in strong winds.  With a brand-new house next to that area, no thank you.  

So, above is the before...

...and here it is after!

If you look in the first photo, you can see the branch on the old tree that goes down diagonally, to get a frame of reference for how much was cleared.  Quite a difference!  

Here is another angle of more clearing in that area. 

Above is before...

...and this is after!  WOW!  So much more space now and it's just less "stressful" to look at, ha. 

Barnabas (named because it looks like something from a gothic story) now stands alone!

This was before they finished and cleaned up.  I had to go ahead and leave as they were staying until dark and I needed to get back to town to beat the traffic.  They also worked on the other side of the property near the power lines to clean that up and get some trees and branches away from those lines.  I left before they finished that part, so I don't have the 'after' photos but we'll post those as a part two after I get some new photos this coming weekend.

Hope your Thanksgiving plans are coming along!

GOOD FOOD AND HOBART SUNDAY

It's been a great weekend so far.  Land clearing yesterday they got a lot done, we'll have a post coming up on that.  Today it's errand running and of course, good food and Hobart!

The other night we had some salmon over Mexican style brown rice with corn and jalapeño (and a salad to start).  It was very good.

After we ate, I was sitting the couch and Hobart curled up next to me.  Then he stretched and spread out.  And stretched out some more.  And I was forced into the corner so I didn't disturb his sleep.  Because...

#notspoiled

LAND CLEARING DAY

Well, yesterday was the start and today is the finish.  We are having the area around Barnabus (the old, giant mesquite tree) cleared.  It is also having a large branch cut off that is too close to the future house.  I drove out at lunch to see the progress, holy cow it's amazing. 

It's going to look SO different, probably a bit of a shock at first but will give us a whole new area to enjoy.

We're taking lot of before pics of course.  Today they finish up and after that area is cleared, we get to do what he calls "you point/we cut".  That will let them clean up areas that have gotten out of control and we can have them neat and tidy. 

While they are doing it, I'm going to just be in the barn and shed maybe organizing a bit (as I can, there is a lot of stuff from the house in there).  The best thing is the current temperature out there is 49!!!

Lots of pictures coming soon!

Hope your weekend is off to an equally good start!

SEPTIC PLANS ARE IN NEW HOUSE UPDATE

One of the other things they have to do is design the new septic system that will go with our house.

We got the plans via email the other day, printed them out and looked at them compared to the property.  That wooden stake in the above photo is where the "tank area" will go (see further down).

This shows where the house will be in relation to the septic tank system (next image).  The blue circles are the radius of where the water from the spray heads will reach.

They told us it was safe to plant trees and bushes in the area but not a garden, ha.  Of course, our garden will be elsewhere, so no issue there.

We will have three tanks.  A 500-gallon pre-treatment tank, a 500-gallon aerobic treatment and a 750-gallon pump tank (where the pop-up sprinkler heads will spray water when full).

We also learned that the pop-up sprinkler heads are purple, that's required by law to make it know that it is non-potable water.  Of course, I'm worried about mowing over them, so I might have to plan some sort of decorative planting area around them.  We'll see!

This is from the PDF that they sent to help us understand how all of this will work.  To be honest, we're still a little confused about it all, but 2nd Family at the front has the same type of set up.  She said it has worked great and no issues with the spray heads.  Except when there is a freeze, then there is a great Winter ice show, ha.

LAUNDRY ROOM NEW HOUSE TEASER

In case you missed it, click on the previous post from yesterday for pics on the house demolition! 

Here is the utility room.  Or laundry room?  We still say laundry room, but builders seem to call it utility.  Not sure what they are calling them these days.

I was mostly involved in the layout of the this room.  First of all, it's not huge, and the way the floor plan is laid out, we didn't have a lot of room for changes as far as size.  It measures 8' x 8'6" with a 9' ceiling and that will give us a decent sized room.  There will be a center recessed light and we added an exhaust fan.

There is a hallway (above) that runs from the kitchen/dining area to the garage.  In the original plan, there was what they call a "drop zone" near the garage door.  Some sort of built in cabinet/table as a spot to put stuff as you come in. Then there was a door to a small pantry and a door to the laundry room.  We felt that was a lot of doors opening/closing/swinging back and forth and getting in the way of each other.

So, the first change we made was pocket doors.

They will look like the picture above.  One for the pantry and one for the laundry room.  Sure, they are more expensive (isn't everything, sigh), but it just seems that not having doors swinging in and out and in the way, just having an open space between the hall and the rooms made more sense. The door to the garage is still there, because, well, it's a garage, ha.  Both pocket doors will be black, solid core, and 36" wide 8' tall to match the style and color of the regular door to the garage.  We also made sure the pocket doors were centered in each space and across from each other for that symmetric look (this plan doesn't reflect that yet).

We also decided to put a drain in the middle of the floor.  That's something not a lot of people think about but in the event the washer sprung a leak, it will drain into the floor and not into the other rooms.  It'll look much like this, only more in the middle of the room.

Speaking of the floor...

...the flooring in here will be the same tile as in the guest bath.  It should look very pretty.  We were going to go with a generic all one-color tile, but just because it's a utility room doesn't mean it has to look utilitarian!

The last change was bigger.  In the original plan, there was a 'freezer space' in the pantry.  Food storage is very important to us, so we wanted to keep space for a separate freezer but we wanted our pantry to be all pantry without eating up space with a freezer.  We decided to have them move the freezer space from the pantry and into the laundry room.

This necessitated the last change. With a standard side-by-side washer/dryer, the freezer spot would have been on the opposite wall...it would have been crowded.

At our apartment for years now, we've had a nice (supplied by the apartment) stack washer/dryer.  In fact, here is a photo of ours now. We love a stack unit and realized that if we do that here, we can put the freezer next to it and, as we've already measured, still have a little space for a cabinet in between.  

We also had the freezer and stack unit moved from the side wall to the back wall.  That way, when you slide open the door, it's a straight shot to the back, not only more convenient but probably more aesthetically pleasing when you look at it in the space.

Like this!  It'll look pretty close to this on the back wall as you slide open the pocket door (different colors of course).  Pretty cool huh?  We think it'll be nice.

We wished there had been room for a sink in here and there would have been were it not for moving the freezer, but again, an extra freezer was more important.  Hey, we will still have our sink in the garage as you saw in the post on the garage tour.  It's only a few steps away from the laundry room.  In the end, we still get the stand-alone freezer and the utility sink, just not in the same space, ha.

So that's it.  Y'all have seen every room planned in the house except for the kitchen and the pantry.  Big plans there, next week, pantry tour!

THE HOUSE IS GONE

 We'll have another post soon with lots of pics before and after from various angles (including some unique shots!) but since many of you have asked how it went, we're keeping this first post quick and to the point, ha.

It's the end of an era for the little farmhouse.  It had a great run, but it was time to make our future dreams come true...

Here it is right after we bought it...

Here it is Wednesday morning...

Going...

Going...

Gone!

Instead of being sad, we're thinking of what will grow from this spot.  Just like planting a seed and waiting for a beautiful flower to bloom, we'll be waiting for our new home to rise up from this very spot. 

The future awaits!

GOOD FOOD AND HOBART SUNDAY

 Tomorrow an update on the house but today, as usual, it's some good food and some Hobart!

Here's a recent dinner.  A very lean pork chop marinated overnight with a little bit of avocado oil, smoked paprika, cumin and chili pepper.  We added a side of asparagus, brown rice with corn, and an avocado with Greek yogurt and cilantro.  It was good!

Here's a good one!  I was working on my laptop from the table and put Hobart's afghan up there so he could sleep nearby.  But instead of sleeping, he just stared at me like he was saying "aren't you done YET?".  Because...

#notspoiled

BONNE MAMAN FALL TRIO

 It's been a busy week, still things happening at the property so we'll have an update on that.  Until then, here's a post for you on some future good eating!

Over the last few years, we've occasionally bought the Bonne Maman Advent calendar for the holidays.  It gives you 25 days of small jar samples of unique flavors.  In fact, we still have some from last year.

So when we saw this new offering from them, and because we still had a few small jars, we knew we had to try this instead.

This year they have what they are calling their FALL TRIO.

It's a boxed set of three special flavors, two new limited edition flavors and one that is usually only around in the Fall and, thus, sometimes hard to find.

First up, there is a jar of fig preserves which is seasonal.  I LOVE figs (and we have a fig tree growing at the farm) and hope this will inspire me to make fig preserves when we start getting regular harvests.

This is a limited edition flavor, "PUMPKIN SPICE SPREAD".  My Grandmother used to make apple butter and my Dad asked her to make pumpkin butter and she did and it was REALLY good.  I'm hoping this is similar.

And lastly, there is this one, a special flavor;  CRANBERRY-CHERRY PRESERVES.

We just got them in the mail a few days ago, so we're waiting for 2nd Man to make some homemade bread so we can try them all out.  We'll keep you posted.

DINING ROOM NEW HOUSE TEASER

 Now it's time for the dining room.

The dining room is off the kitchen and is at the back of the house.  It measures 13'4" wide by 11'4" deep.  To the left (as looking from above) is the living room and screened in porch, on the right is the hallway to the garage, utility room and pantry and on the other side is the kitchen.  When you walk in the front door after you go through the foyer, you'll see the dining room at the back of the house.

No, we haven't been holding back details on our progress, this isn't ours, ha.  This is from a model that was being built of our exact (well, with changes but this part identical) floor plan.  It's always fun to see it at this stage and we can't WAIT until we have pictures like this of ours in every stage of construction!  Another reason to get pics like this of our own will be to know where pipes and wires are throughout the house.

This is the almost finished dining room from our actual floor plan (later progress of the above framing photo).

We made some changes to the original plan.

First of all, we made our kitchen bigger (longer) so we could have a bigger island and make some appliance changes.  That, in turn, lengthened the dining room.  And that in turn gave us the space to be able to have the screened porch.  This picture is the bigger dining room we will have (minus that door with the X on it, ha).

When we opted for our porch to be larger...and then decided to make it screened in...and then decided on the opening doors from the living room, we decided we didn't need this door.  That will give us that much more wall space both inside in the dining room and then on the outside wall of the screened-in porch, we'll have more room as well.  Win/win!

We also chose for a continuous windowsill here (we like that look) and these windows won't open, so they'll be big sheets of glass (double pane/insulated) to give us a view.  This will be the view of what we used to see from the back of the farmhouse, the orchard area will be visible from here and the 200 acres behind us that is used for cattle (we should get some fun views).

Here is the electrical plan for the dining room:

    As with our other rooms, you can never have too many electrical outlets.  Here, we have one on every wall (and two on the window wall).  This room will not have recessed lighting like the others and no ceiling fan of course but will instead have a hanging fixture.  We picked one, from the list of the ones that are included, but they are simple (like the one in the photo above).  We want something dramatic but without having to finance it for years in the mortgage, ha.

Maybe something like this.  We like it, it's kind of retro cool.  But we'll find just the right one and may even have it put up before closing.

We'll use the dining table and chairs we have at the apartment (and had at the house we sold) in the new dining room.  The farmhouse dining table and chairs will go onto the back porch.

We also have this matching buffet and hutch.  They'll fit perfectly in that dining room space.

The dining room, being at the other end of the kitchen so to speak will make it kind of like an eat in kitchen but still in its own defined space.

We'll even have easy dining room table access to a wine fridge in the island...oops, we're getting ahead of ourselves!  More on that soon.

Next week, the laundry room...