The Dream Team

 having just returned from a short five-day trip to kauai, i'm struggling with downshifting from the hectic schedule of meetings, business and social, that filled my schedule.  the upside to all the meetings was a clear picture of what will get done and who will do it and around when it will be finished, or in this case, started.

entrance to the property

 spending time with three (!) separate neighbors over dinner on three separate nights was especially pleasing; having a view of how the ridge transitions from day to night, and how immense and empty the black that occupies the valley after dusk.

 the house is finally getting started, and i have assembled my Dream Team of architect, builder, excavator, landscape architect, bank and bond persons.  even if they are not a dream team, they will have to be one now.  everyone has what they need to begin, and all feel positive about the project.  as of this writing, the bank has not yet funded the loan, yet they provide constant encouragement that it will be.  the irony is since i'm funding half of the project, the draws will be from my pot o cash first, then the banks funds are tapped after my pot is empty.

take a load off, sophie

 getting out of the ground will take a few weeks.  it takes a lot of excavation, even on my level lot, to prepare the site for footings and foundation work.  before the house siting is enacted, plenty of dirt will be thrown around from trenching for utilities, digging for septic, and leveling off even the slightest slope.  it's likely we will level the edge of the pali and border it with boulders; this will soften the view as it drops precipitously down to the river.  for the house itself, we will dig about 1.5 feet down, then lay footings and stack concrete blocks on top for a crawl-space foundation of around 3 ft.  (i've asked for a french drain to be installed at the bottom of a slope in the crawl space.)  this means the finish floor will be around 1.5 ft above where current grass sits.