Mythbusting: It's nearly impossible to move a recorded well site.

Nick went to the County yesterday and got great news about moving the well. That was one myth worth busting. I'm not sure where the rumor got started that moving a well was hard, as our well driller seemed to be pretty adamant about it being an "act of congress" but it's good to know that we can move it!

Rain rain, go away...but only when you're ready

We met with our well driller last night to finalize the spot for our well and, much to our dismay, have to put the drilling on hold until we go through one week of solid sun and can project another week after that.

When the company parceled the five plots in our development they chose the well sites based on paper boundaries and not what made sense based on grading of the land or placement of trees. Unfortunately for us this site happens to be in the middle of our "front forest". We lucked out in that we won't lose any trees to prepare the area (it's not as heavily treed as the "back forest") but we didn't luck out in the super steep decline into the front.

We have three options: 1. Bring in truckloads and truckloads of gravel in order to "pave" a good path for the rigs 2. Move the well site or 3. Wait for the sun. The idea of bringing in gravel to blanket our ground is not appealing to us and according to our well driller moving a well site is an act of congress (although he's checking on it today). As far as we're concerned the choice is easy...we're Pacific Northwesterners...waiting for the sun is what we do best!

But, until it comes we're not going to wish our lives away. Spring in Washington is one of my favorite times of year, the trees finally have their color back but because of the constant rain showers everything takes on a misty sheen. Standing in the middle of the tree roots and Jurassic ferns last night, soaking wet and just a little chilly, I fell in love with the moodiness of our land.

So Mr. Sun, take your time...but we're ready for you when you do decide to come out!

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

We met two sets of neighbors this weekend while out working, one man had even lived next to the property since he was born in 1956. As the last piece of undeveloped land in an area of large acreage parcels our building is bound to bring some questions from anyone and everyone who has a viewpoint. Of course everyone has been very polite and super nice but you could tell they wanted the scoop: how big of a house were we going to build, what were we going to do with the land, were we going to take down any more trees, etc. etc. etc. They were concerned, but who wouldn't be, we're human beings and we don't like people encroaching. 

We shared with them our plans to keep the small forest that still remained in addition to adding even more trees. I've been doing a lot of research on "fast growing trees" and found a great website, endorsed by Good Morning America (for whatever that's worth), http://www.fast-growing-trees.com/FastestTrees.htm breaks it down into the "fastest growing trees" of which the Thuja Giant has become one of our favorites. We currently have good treed borders but, as land-owners ourselves now, we're anxious about what "future neighbors" could do to take away our privacy. By planting the Thuja Giants along our perimeter we'll establish borders now and hopefully, any more development from new owners will be of no concern to us.

Robert Frost said it best in his poem, "Mending Wall"

Something there is that doesn't love a wall...

Good fences make good neighbors. 

I'm excited our neighbors are all so amenable. I even believe they will continue to be nice, just as we will continue to be nice...as long as everyone stays on the right side of the "fence."

Photo Credit: I took this photo on the side of the road while driving through the countryside of Nicaragua. I did some touch up in photoshop to enhance the colors and make the sky more moody.