Getting Started

 This was the view of the shop site before clearing.  It is roughly the site of the old homestead and the only part of the property that is anywhere near flat.  A few weeks before the closing, we looked for potential sites for buildings.  The pink tape outlines where we decided to place the shop.  Final siting will be set after clearing.

 This view is the drive into the property as it looked before any clearing.  The road is Zion Rd. going west, just before it heads down a steep hill into the Indian Creek valley.  I will be taking pictures from this same spot to show the changes as time goes on.

 Towards the end of the day we closed, after the champagne toast, Jason (son-in-law) got to work clearing the shop site.

This is what things looked like at the end of the day.


The next day I met with the power company to set a pole and new service.  I also met one of the neighbors who told me that he used to own the land and had run a water pipe from the main into the property.  Luckily, I got back to the water company to cancel the $2000+ hook-up and changed it to a simple meter set and account ($80).  Next time we're there, I'll find that pipe and make sure it's OK.

That evening Jason returned with a bobcat to push the trees and brush into a pile.

This photo is taken from the entrance to property (Like other ones).

This is the back side of the burn pile.  Photo taken from probable drive to the new cabin.  Looking toward Zion Rd. 


We tried to burn the pile Saturday morning, but green stuff don't burn, duh.  So, now, it sits, waiting for our return in a couple of weeks.  By then, our power pole and drop should be in.  We'll dig up the water pipe and set a hydrant.  Then burn, baby, burn.  A bit more grading, then the Shop.

It's Ours!

We closed the purchase of our property on Wednesday, May 2, 2012.
We finally met the seller who had some interesting things to tell us about the land.

Our property and a great deal of surrounding land had been in her family for generations.  When her Great-Grandfather died, his youngest son inherited the land.  I don't know how much land it was, but the seller described it as stretching from Giant City Road to west across Indian Creek.  I will do some research into this, but the way she described it, it was probably several hundred acres.  The son who inherited the property was a gambler and sold it off piece by piece over the years.  Family members bought some of it and some remains in family hands.  Many of the family grew up in that area; attending school in a one room school house in a valley now under Spring Arbor Lake, worshiping in Zion Church and buried in the Zion Cemetery.  Our 20 acres once had a house and barns, where our seller's mother was born and raised.  Now, there is no sign of any buildings, only hundreds of daffodils to hint at once was there. I'm anxious to
 learn more.

 

After the closing we went right to work, but first, a toast.

Getting Closer

While we still don't own the property, we do have a closing date set, May 2.

At that point we hope to hit the ground running, both figuratively and literally.  We have been making plans all along.  Our imaginations started the first day we walked the land. (I even have a pretty well developed plan for a (my) dream house that Jan hasn't even seen.)  Realistically, I know that making plans for property that we have seen only a few hours and from 800 miles away demands a major degree of flexibility.

Last week, we had an opening in our schedule that gave us the opportunity to re-visit the land and fine tune our plans.  Our plan, at that point, (after a few months of evolution) was to build a 30'X60' pole barn shop building with a 20'X30' apartment in one end.  We would live in the apartment and take our time designing, siting, and building a permanent home. The main thing we wanted to do on this trip, was to locate the site for the shop so we could get started as soon as we owned the property.

Let me take a step back and describe the lay of the land.  There is 660 feet of frontage on the county road.  There is a drive way at the only apparent place where the elevation of the property matches the street.  It enters the property and ends immediately.  This area is over grown with brush and small trees and has a fairly gradual slope down and away.  The slope becomes steeper as you go further.  The slope has a couple of nice outcrops of rocks as you go down. There is a total elevation change  from highest to lowest of about 130 feet.  A dry (except in rains) stream bed drops from the left to right in the bottom of the hollow.  The property rises similarly up the other side to a nice ridge.  The land continues on past that hill top.  The entire property (except for the brushy top couple of acres) is deep, mature hardwood forest.

So, back to the plan.  We needed to locate the site for the shop where we could have a pleasant view from the apartment, but not intrude too much on potential home sites.  The first spot we laid out was part way down the hill, just out of the brush.  After I set up my laser level and checked the difference of the corners, I realized that it might not be a good spot.  The difference from one corner to another was over 7 feet.  Not the best spot.   So we went back to an old plan and found an easier site near the road and driveway in the brushy, leveler area.  We met Jason (son-in-law and bobcat operator) at the site and struck a plan to start ripping brush, cutting trees, and leveling dirt.

We spent the rest of the afternoon further exploring and familiarizing ourselves with the land.  I found this piece of treasure:

Just beyond the treasure, Jan had a major revelation.  We had originally planned to sub-divide the South 5 acres (the ridge across the hollow), but cannot get easy access.  But Jan realized that there is a 1 acre chunk that we could easily divide off right on the road.  It had hidden from us in all the thick brush.  Once through a short barrier of brush the woods opens up nicely with a manageable slope.  So the next big change in our plan is to survey off one acre at the front of the land where there is already city water and power available and (probably) build a spec house.

When back in Southern Illinois, we stay with my daughter, Ellie, her husband, Jason, and my granddaughter, Zee.  At the end of the day on the land, we were relaxing in Ellie's living room when we had another revelation.  The entire planned barn apartment would fit in her living room and kitchen. Oh no, I don't think we can live in that space for long.  Time for a plan B (C, D, etc.).  The trip home (13 hour drive) gave us a good opportunity for brain storming.  Options included multi-stories and walls to be re-set after we move out.  None of these seemed satisfactory.  As is often the case, the best answer came to Jan over night.  Our new plan is to eliminate the apartment part of the shop (saving a bit of cost) and building a free standing cabin to live in.  The cabin would still be very small, but a more comfortable configuration.  It will be built at the site just down the hill from the shop, where we first considered for the shop.  It is a more attractive spot with a peek at the hollow through the woods. It will be built into the hill side, taking advantage of the terrain rather than fighting it.  Entry will be on the up hill end into the living room/kitchen space.  The bedroom/bathroom will be in the walk out basement.  This should be a very efficient use of space and a structure that I can build myself, with some help, of course. This will be a house that we can be comfortable in while we continue with other projects like designing, building, and selling a spec house and designing and building a dream house.  This cabin will also give us a better future option as a rental.

Now the cabin planning continues.  The floor plan is almost there and then the construction details and cost estimates need to be done.  As soon as we close, Jason will be out prepping the building sites.  Then the barn builders will get the shop up, we'll get utilities run, get the septic system designed and built, the driveway built, the house foundation poured, etc., etc.

It looks like we may soon actually own the property.  After several weeks, we have finally agreed on terms with the seller.  So.. the blog goes on.

begining

Last week (Feb.16), Jan and I visited a couple more properties in Southern Illinois with idea of setting (re-setting) a foothold there, closer to Daughter Ellie, Granddaughter Zee, and Son-in law Jason as well as many of my oldest and best friends.  I have been looking at land and houses for almost a year without any jumping out at me. This trip, I had 3 candidates to check out.  The first was a couple acres outside of Carbondale: somewhat scenic, but problematic drainage.  The next was 20 acres outside of Goreville.  It was nice.  Mostly open rolling pasture with woods and creek at the back.  Really quite nice and very buildable, but the road in was in bad shape over a railroad track and while quite beautiful, didn't really grab me.  The third parcel was as different as it could be.  Nice road access, city water and power, all woods, within the boundary of the Shawnee National Forest, a hikeable distance from Giant City State Park, and pretty much nothing close to flat.  When I hear "Southern Illinois" this land is what I picture.  I was hoping for some rock bluffs, but there are some shelves and lots of rocks in the runs. By the road there seems to be an old house site.  There is no trace of a building, but there is a depression that was probably a cellar, a pile of hundreds of old bottles and jars, and literally thousands of daffodils.

The next day, Ellie, Jason, and Zee walked the land with us. They gave us the thumbs up.  We made an offer on Thursday, Feb.23.  Waiting to hear.