The Big Projects are Really Coming Together

A few weeks ago, when I was walking down to the pool to show Daris around, one of the logs in the little stairway came out of place. We decided that we needed to add this to the project Jesse was working on - the brick terrace. Here are the old logs, lying in one of our poison ivy patches.

And the second photo here is of the new steps in progress - designed from retired railroad ties. We are going to put a four-inch concrete pad in each tread of the stair way. Here you can see where the area around the stairs is overrun with another kind of ivy, with some hostas and a magnolia mixed in - not to mention the old barbeque that is not in working order.

The next two photos are of the steps down to the pool level, after you enter the gate. We removed all the old planters that were here to give more room. I think the stairs may be a little steep, but there was nothing here before, so it is an improvement.

And here is one of the new footer at the base of the retaining wall - again replacing the planter that was there before. Two notes on this one: 1) there was a four inch layer of concrete under this wall bolstered by the planter, so we were glad to find that out in the progress before putting the new footer in; and 2) because we couldn't bring a truck in for this job, the guys had to wheelbarrow 80 times with the concrete for this footer!

Here is a quick perspective on where the new footer is, and a picture of the retaining wall. That's the Hawksbill Cabin in the back - original stone portion! Pool is not in the picture, but it would be in the foreground.

Tomorrow's entry - pool equipment arriving!

Battle of the Species - It's about to get ugly

As many of our readers know, one of the joys of owning a cabin in the country is frequent encounters with nature. I suppose that one could be called a naturalist, or even an environmentalist, for taking on a project such as the Hawksbill Cabin – we respect the environment and do our best to consider the impact of our actions while we are out there; and we respect the heritage of the place at the county and community level and we’d like to contribute to efforts to preserve these things. We have altruistic goals that offset our other selfish ones.

For me though, there is also the simple matter of a man needs a place to go where his fellow global travelers won’t accompany him. When I speak of global travelers I mean my fellow species – those that don’t quite understand the concept of a symbiotic relationship…snakes, termites, and carpenter bees among them. In the next week or so I have a new tale I am about to unfold, a tale that will comprise the sixth episode of the ongoing Battle of the Species.

For now though, for our readers’ convenience, here are permalinks to the past installments in the series.
http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/2007/09/battle-of-species-introduction.html
http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/2007/09/battle-of-species-part-1-carpenter-bees.html
http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/2007/10/battle-of-species-2-snakes.html
http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/2007/11/battle-of-species-3-termites.html
http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/2008/04/snake-in-laundry.html