At Home In The Woods

[mikefromnh]

My wife found the zoning violation sign this morning. I guess I didn't hide it very well. She took it amazingly well.

The cat is still in the red zone. When I gave the cat hydrogen peroxide to make her throw up, she inhaled some of the peroxide, perhaps a substantial amount. Right now the immediate concern is inflamation in her lungs. We are giving anti-biotics.

Maybe she is the one who turned you in -- her way of telling you to hurry up bc she is tired of living in the trailer.

OR

The framer you fired is related to every third town official.

Anyways I'd say its a construction trailer and that you had to spend a few nights at the site bc of theft and vandals.

 

[tommu56]

Another way you could cut the trunk to lay over toward the drive if both limbs are in line along the edge.

just be careful

tom

 

[mkane09]

I agree with Eddie. Limb it, cut the trunk from the bottom up. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time....

mkane09

 

[Obed]

Maybe she is the one who turned you in -- her way of telling you to hurry up bc she is tired of living in the trailer.

That's just too funny.

Obed

 

[Obed]

Update

Tree on Driveway
We called 5 different tree services this morning. We found a tree guy who came out this evening (Sunday) and cleared enough of the tree debris so that the driveway is now passable. He returned our call at 4:30 PM today, met us at our property at 5:30 PM, gave us a bid and immediately started working. Brick will not be delayed by the downed tree. Yay!

Cat
Our cat is not out of the woods yet but has shown some improvement since yesterday. She won't eat or drink on her own so we are feeding her with liquid food using a plastic syringe (without a needed attached). Friday after my wife came home from the vet, my wife had little hope that the cat would survive. At least we now have some hope the cat might possibly pull out of this but it's still all too early to tell. I'd give our old cat a 40-50% chance at this point.

Zoning Violation
The wife is talking about trying to get an occupancy permit for the house in 60 days. The bare minimum to do so is: Drywall up for fire and electrical protection, smoke detectors, a working kitchen sink (it can be in a temporary enclosure); a working toilet (maybe a whole bathroom, I'm not sure), and a bedroom. Cabinets, painting (I think), and flooring could come later. Note: If we go this route, how will anyone know whether we sleep and eat in the camper or in the house? Unless of course the person who turned us into the zoning office is a TBNer? Unlikely.

This weekend has been action packed. We worked long days all weekend, mostly getting things ready for brick. I'll provide pictures of our weekend work later. With everything that happened in such a short time, being busy working was the best therapy we could have had. Doing so didn't allow me time to dwell on the problems. That's probably true for my wife also. Finding a tree guy at the last minute who was willing to clear the driveway on Sunday evening was a real God-send.

 

[CurlyDave]

Glad to hear things are looking up a bit and I am rooting for your cat.

 

[LogChain]

Update

Note: If we go this route, how will anyone know whether we sleep and eat in the camper or in the house? Unless of course the person who turned us into the zoning office is a TBNer? Unlikely.

Obed,

There is that TBNer from Anderson County (Oak Ridge, TN) ... Just kidding! Your experience is an example of local government at its best . Sorry to hear.


- LogChain

 

[mkane09]

LogChain, there's more than one of us TBNers from Anderson County....I'm just outside Clinton on the east end...

mkane09

 

[Obed]

We cleaned up piles of trash this weekend. I burned scrap lumber that had no nails in it. We're going to get a dumpster for the waste. We should have done that a long time ago. It would have saved us a lot of wasted time picking up after the subs because we didn't have a good place for the trash.


We moved the trash from the edge of this pile in order to make room for the sand delivery dump truck to drive in front of the house..

 

[Obed]

I finally was able to burn this pile of wood Sunday. The ground was still damp from the rainstorm that knocked down the hickory tree Saturday. Burning this pile opened up a spot so we can create a new pile for the debris from the hickory tree.

I've been concerned about burning a pile this size with our woods all around it. However, the size of the fire did not seem to get too big. I guess the pile was loose enough that the fire did not rage.

Sunday was a very hot day. Temperatures have been in the mid-nineties the past few days. I had to take many breaks as I tended the fire and cleaned up trash around the house site. I emptied a gallon jug of drinking water (from our well of course).