up to July 2001

Sarah pushes Emily on the tire swing. The house site is to the right, behind the truck. (February 2001)

Emily likes the swing! Not much else for the girls’ entertainment, given the poison oak and wild pigs roaming about. That’ll change soon…

This is the house site, looking West-Northwest (Feb 2001). The kitchen will replace that stump.

This is the view looking Northeast toward the front door. (Feb 2001). Needs some imagination!

This is our view (East-Southeast)—as of February 2001, that is.

What a difference a few days of tractor work makes! The soil is like fine flour--your foot sinks several inches with each step, and the dust flows right through your shoes and socks and covers feet with brown sludge. Isn’t it great?! Once a few of those "wooden fungi" are pulled out, the place really opens up. (June 2001)(Seems the locals have the idea that I’m not a ‘tree hugger’… wonder where they got that idea?)

Anybody thirsty? Here’s 10,000 gallons (Required by the Forestry department. Needed to run the building sprinkler system and the local fire hydrant. Guess who pays for these excesses? Yup…)

Hey, we can climb em!

Sarah stands next to a Madrone stump. This NOT one of the BIG ones, either…

Lisa is considering the view and selecting her private, personal acre.

Miki and Emily contemplate one of the woodpiles. Wonder who’s gonna deal with all that firewood?

After another few days, the house pad is almost ready for layout. Viewed from the lower portion of the driveway (July 2001).

You are about to enter the garage (4 July 2001)

This is the view from the living room, looking East-Northeast. The orange stake is a house corner. Those redwood trees to the left will make a nice sheltered circle for picnicing.

Looking at the lower driveway from the kitchen (WSW). You can see the water tanks and the radio shed in the distance. (July 2001)