Alex has Wayne, who will do most of our excavation, drive a mega ton back hoe down our 45 degree slope. The excavation and skill of the operator is crucial in a project such as this. You don’t want to dig any more than you have to because any extra depth gets filled up with, yup CONCRETE (grey gold). I would always look at the homes on STJ and wonder how did any equipment get to these sites?
There were times when Wayne was digging that I could not bear to look cause I was sure the whole shebang was going to slide down the hill and end up in the water 200 feet below – yikes! But Alex had a plan. This home was to have many levels and we did not want the entire side of the mountain clear cut of trees, there is an internal conflict between wanting to build a house in such a pristine setting and wanting to preserve the natural beauty that drew us here. The two need not be mutually exclusive. We wanted to disturb as little as possible and build responsibly. A silt fence was erected around the building envelope to prevent erosion and runoff into that gorgeous water below. The excavation started at the lowest point. The idea was to dig straight down to the lowest area which would be the septic tanks, bury those and then work up the hill from there. Here is 1 tank that would join 2 others in forming our “water treatment plant”. The idea is that waste water enters one tank and goes to the next and then the 3rd and by that point the final product is believe it or not – pretty clean water that can be used for irrigation.
Looking down at this machine and seeing it in action I remember thinking, “there’s no turning back now”.
A little surprise for us, the footings on the downhill side of the house are going to be 8 feet down, the digging has to go until solid rock is reached. That is like having an entire story underneath the house.
Every now and then we would treat ourselves to a yummy breakfast at The Donkey Diner. For years we drove by this place and never stopped in. Once we discovered this great little place we were hooked. One morning we were fortunate to share our breakfast with this little guy – maybe a day or two old.
During this first “construction” trip we did some running around: first and foremost put in an application @ WAPA for construction power. We knew this could take awhile so let’s get a jump on things. Next it’s over to Innovative to get the lowdown and application for telephone service. They told us, “come back when you have electric and we will hook up your phone line” – fair enough.
The time came for us to return home, we wouldn’t be back until August. It was hard to leave just as things were getting started but Alex promised to email photos. Besides we had our friends that would be on island in July to pop over and check out the progress for us. How people did this from the states before the internet is beyond me. We’ll leave it at that.