Chapter 139...Developing Our New Lot To Build A Store

We are building a store this spring and we can't wait to get going:)

I need to take you back to the beginning to get everyone up to date.  Mike and I bought this property for a great deal a few years ago.  Little by little we have worked on it but we didn't have any definite plans for it.  This year we decided to build a store on it which can later be converted to a small house if we choose to do that.

The lot we bought is two acres on a main road.  Mike and I had vision for this lot.  It was very low lying but there is a big hill, mountain, in the back of it.  We decided to call in our grader and have him dig out the back hill and push it forward to make the lot level with the road.


Randy works on the trackhoe and starts out by pushing trees down.  The power of these machines amaze me.

Moving a tree down the hill.

The lot is getting cleared.

The big logs being loaded up.

The lot is graded.

Mike and I put down 150 pounds of grass seed and we installed some gates.

Back to 9/3:
We have some rain in the forecast so Mike wants to get seed on the hill across the way. It is a very very steep hill This is the plan. We are going to take 2 buckets, one for each of us, and 100 pounds of grass seed and drive through a neighbor's property and throw the seed "down" from the top We get to the top border of our property and I carry the buckets while Mike carries one bag of seed.

This is the hill we are trying to seed.

Mike goes one way and I go the other way with our buckets of seed. Looking across at Mike.

It is very steep and very hard to walk on. I finally made it as far as I could with my bucket of seed and I froze. All I could think of was tumbling down the mountain. I had no idea how I was going to get back to meet Mike in the middle. I'm thinking "oh great Mike is going to have to call 911 to get me off this hill" I got down on all fours and started to crawl backwards with my bucket. I was finally able to get back to the middle. I told Mike "I am done with this hill". He took the last bit of seed we had left and threw it down the hill.

We did the best we could. It is not an easy hill. Next spring we will have to work some more on it. After we got back to the Jeep, we drove down and put more seed on the flat area. Whew!!!

The bank is already growing in.

Getting closer to building.  It's time to install the electric to this lot.  First we have to add some heavy rock at the entrance.  We need to build up the driveway going in.  

Instead of doing the work at the lot, Mike decides to put the electric pole and wiring together at the house.  Then we load it all onto the trailer and take it to the lot:

I help him stand the electric up and hold it against the pole while Mike straps it onto the telephone pole:

Here I am pounding in the ground rod:

Mike screwing in the breaker box:

Mike installing the copper ground wire:

Getting ready for the new building.  Mike is going to put poles in the ground for our concrete man:

Mike pounding in one pole:

The lot is a lot bigger than it seems:

Now we are prepped and almost ready to build.  In one of my next chapters I will write about having the driveway reinforced for the concrete trucks to get in and pour a foundation.


I know this was short and sweet but I just wanted to get everyone up to date with our plans.

Have a great day!!!