Let The Work Begin!

"But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you."

Jeremiah 7:23

Finally! Along with all the work, it actually LOOKS like we've made some progress!

~ Day 1 ~

By the time we got out there Monday morning, the driveway had already been cleared of a lot of the trees. We did find that the DOT had put the tiles in right next to the lower property line (so much for the mandatory 10' set back) making our driveway come in at an angle. Very difficult....and in some scenarios, impossible.....to get in from the other direction. They said they would correct that. Actually, it probably is already done by now.

The beginning of our driveway. Yes, it is very long, but at least we don't have to haul in any gravel. The sand packs down to made a nice, hard road.

Dad and Sara with Clyde, the man who cleared our land.

Big machinery to do a big job....

From only about a third of the way back. The trackhoe is sitting near the entrance.

We have several different types of sand on our land.....white sand found on the sand rim of the bay (you can Google "Carolina Bays" -- it's not the typical type of "bay" that you think of), yellow sand -- something like what you would use to mix mortar, and a lot of stiff dirt -- the kind that is perfect for growing a garden. It was neat to walk along and see the streaks of different sands.

Oooooops! The chainsaw got in a bind......then as the other came to help, it got in a bind as well. Trackhoe to the rescue! : )

Thumbs Up!

Back to the program.....until the chains messed up.

This is not a roadside picnic in progress.

First changing one chain...

...then the other.

Is it working????

Getting it just right

"I'm all ready, Gertrude!" : )

They weren't the only ones having to fix their equipment.

Lunch Time!!!! They picked out a nice, aromatic place to take their lunch.....right on a pine tree!

In front of the crater Clyde had created when he pulled that huge tree out of the ground.

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Clearing.....from a different perspective : )

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This is our creek nice and full. At the most six feet wide and one foot deep.

~ Day 2 ~

A little more progress. There were many huge piles along the driveway.

Everyone was busy doing anything from making more piles...

...to sawing and hauling logs for firewood as well as timber for our house.

Allison finally got to see the creek! She had only been able to make the long trek back to it once, and that was during the drought when it was only damp dirt.

Looks like we had a visitor from Loony Tunes...

...and her sister. : )

The crowd of spectators

Everything was going smoothly until he tried to take this monster of a tree out. It's roots seemed to go all the way to China! He dug and dug and dug and pushed and dug and dug and dug and pushed some more, but it wasn't budging. However, we did discover something.....

....an underground spring! It was quickly filling the hole with water.

Clyde

It was obvious that it wasn't going to be dug out, so the next best thing was to cut it down. The tree was approximately 3 1/2 feet in diameter!

As he pushed the tree over, Clyde jokingly said, "See! I told you I could do it!"

After watching the show, Christina and Allison went ahead and walked back to the van while Mom and Valerie stayed behind to take some more pictures before they left. As Mom and Valerie neared the van, they saw Christina and Allison standing still, staring at the ground. Christina warned them to approach cautiously. Why?

There was a snake in the path. Actually, Allison had already passed it before Christina saw it. It was curled up with its head raised. Valerie tried everything to try to get a good closeup picture, but it wouldn't take its eyes off of her. She even tried going around it while Mom and Christina tried to distract it, but to no avail. Every time she tried to get closer, it would get in striking position. Not exactly the friendliest terms.

We made a quick phone call, and Ray and Sara came to our rescue. The first question Ray asked as soon as he was within earshot was, "Now this isn't a joke, is it?" Huh! Like he's the one to ask that question!?!?! : )

~ Day 3 ~

It had rained 2 inches throughout the night and was supposed to continue throughout the day. Everything was wet. Clyde had come out to work, but after an attempt, he decided to wait until it dried up some. Our crew decided to do the same.

Our creek now. Remember those pictures of the 6' wide creek? No longer so!

The pink ribbons signify where the nearest creek bank used to be. Now we know where we will NOT build!

Wouldn't you want to get stuck in this mess?!?

The land beside the road was completely dry the day before.

Since they weren't going to be working on the land for the rest of the day, the whole family packed into our van and we headed to Wilmington.....only about an hour's drive to the east. We wanted to see what all they had there as far as shopping was concerned (for future reference). Our choices for groceries are VERY slim within a large radius of our land, so we will have to go to either Fayetteville (an hour to the north) or Wilmington to do any extensive grocery shopping. We did find a Super Wal-Mart in Clinton......only about 30-45 min. away.

We saw this funny sight while in Wilmington. By this time, the rain had stopped, but the wind was blowing. The birds had covered two sides of the roof.

We quickly returned to the trailer, and the rest of the evening will be left to the next post. : )
(Is the suspense mounting yet????)

~ Day 4 ~

Well, this was to be the big day. we were going to be able to drive our van back to the clearing for our cabin. The driveway was to be finished. Our excitement was mounting, and we couldn't wait to see the finished product! It was said to be smoother and drivable, so the ladyfolk drove out there with their spirits soaring. As they neared the entrance to the driveway, it was apparent that it still was very rough looking. They made a pass and pulled into a drive not far up the road. Now to make a decision.......do we? or do we not? It didn't look passable, but they said it was. Very well......we shall try. They made it about 15' and started spinning. This was not good! Thankfully, reverse worked. They decided the side of the road was much safer!!!

Our driveway now....
Maybe soon we can get it all smoothed out ready for driving.

Braving the cold with a fire......

......and with toe socks, of course!

"O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall."

Isaiah 25: 1,4