Driveway Clearing: Part 1

My dad and I have spent three days (Saturday, yesterday, and today) clearing a driveway path through the woods between the road and the field where my house will be. It's been difficult work, but we've made good progress. I think the woods are about 600 feet deep, and we've probably gone about 400 feet, with the help of a sickle bar mower, a chain saw, a scythe, and a couple of hand saws. The two power tools had some issues, so the hand tools came in handy at times.

It's been interesting to me to see all of the animal life that these woods and fields support. There are hawks, frogs, beetles, spiders, ants, bees, yellowjackets, butterflies, dragonflies, caterpillars, mosquitoes, and probably hundreds of other insects. We even saw a deer out there today. The plant life is also very diverse. I want to preserve as much of that life and diversity as I can during this project. We are cutting only small or dead trees when necessary. Although we are tearing out some of the plants, we are leaving them along the sides of the path to serve as food and shelter for the life that is there. We also feed the mosquitoes well every time we're there.

I've acquired a collection of yellowjacket stings, mosquito bites, and poison ivy rashes, so it'll be good to finish this phase of the project. Hopefully the hard part will be done by the end of the week. I'll try and post some pictures soon!

Tennessee Resident

I'm officially a Tennessee resident as of last Thursday. It feels great to be back among family, rolling hills, clean air, and wide open spaces. I've spent the past few days settling in, but plan to get started marking out a driveway route through a patch of woods along the road later this week.

This afternoon was the initial hearing before the city planning committee to rezone the property to residential status. Next it will be submitted to the city council with two more public hearings in late September and late October.

I still have plenty of work to do to make the house drawings worthy of submittal to the code department. I will, of course, post the updated drawings as I get to them. Till then!

Updated Model Exterior

Here are some updated views of the exterior of the house.  I'm still hoping to start construction in late October.  The rezoning process has begun, with the initial hearing on August 23rd.  Meetings for public comment are scheduled for September and October.  While I'm waiting for that, I'll start clearing a path for the driveway, fencing off a yard, and staking out the house.

Oh - and moving day for me (from Atlanta to Cookeville) is August 19th!