Yes, friends, that is indeed the highly coveted building permit for our craft shack/tool shed/probably ill advised summer project (to go with the anticipated newborn). BUT it will guarantee Oscar a room of his own and guarantee me a dedicated sewing/craft space. Fun! In the meantime, it has mostly been guaranteeing headaches and sore backs.
And some fun. Look: we rented a tractor/backhoe/scooper thingy. It's the teensiest tractor you ever saw but oh so effective and pretty fun to drive around.
From this:
To this:
In just a few hours. All so we could transplant my beloved Meyer lemon tree that seems, at this point, unlikely to survive the trauma. Let's all send Mrs. Meyer some positive thoughts, shall we? And I'll give her plenty of water and the vitamin regimen suggested to reduce shock in trees.
Meanwhile, in the back yard trenching was underway:
I even got in on the action for a few hours. I really, really can't hand shovel at this point (nearly pulled a muscle trying to turn the compost the other day) but I can work a backhoe. In my pajamas. While Mr. H runs wheelbarrow loads to the truck.
And then there were many trips to the dump. The dump must be good business--$20/pickup and look at the line. Oh, and typepad is sideways again, oh joy.
After my backhoeing I was suitably impressed with the agility with which this fellow operated the giant CAT scooper dealy.
Meanwhile, Mr. H shoveled by hand.
Our lives are so exciting, no?
I didn't get a good shot but by the end of day two the footings were nearly dug for the foundation perimeter and the electrical trench was in. A few spots left for Mr. H to hand trench because even miniature tractors aren't endlessly manueverable.
So, to summarize our craft shack successes (and expenses because I find that sort of thing fascinating):
$730 and about 6 trips to the County Building Office later we have an approved building permit
~$300 in rental and delivery fees plus some diesel fuel and hard labor and we have our trenches dug.
$I-don't-even-want-to-think-about-it and the excess dirt, concrete and bushes are at the dump to be mulched and who knows what else
So, well over $1000 in and we have....wait for it....a place to build a craft shack and formal permission to do so. Go us!
You can't even tell you are pregnant in the photo!
Looks like you have quite the mess though.
Posted by: Laura | May 24, 2011 at 01:29 PM