Water and Septic

So the last few days have been spent working with a plumber to get the water lines stubbed in, the septic tank set and the leach field completed. After all of that hard work "pounding the pad" some of it was torn up for water/plumbing/sewage lines.

The septic tank was set with a bit of difficulty. Once the water table seal was broke, the hole quickly filled with water. Now the challenge was to keep the tank in position without popping up. Luckily there was a "pond" that we used to fill the septic tank and that kept it down.

The leach lines utilized an infiltrator system rather than old style piping. Tonight all of the systems are in place. Now we wait for the concrete guy to show up next week. This weekend will be spent clearing the right of way for the telephone and power company so they can run lines.

Getting Square and Hard

This weekend has been spent mining gravel, digging, bulldozing and moving around gravel. Mike continued to pound the house pad of gravel with a roller/vibrator as Terry and Dustyto moved it to the pad. We had a heck of a hole to fill after taking all of the gravel out. Terry and Dusyto crashed down old trees, alders and junk to fill the hole. It will has a ways to go.

Mike spent most of Friday and Saturday on the thing and then Arlene got her thrills while we went to town to get copper water line. The gravel must be hard, hard, hard and the more it is pounded the better the pad. We have a new driveway constructed complete with 12" culvert.

On going to town:
We leave at 0530 hrs for Lowe's. Of course they don't open until 0800 hrs and we are at the door at 0700 hrs. What to do? Go to the grocery store, fuel up the truck and wait.....We are finding a sort of "manana" here- nobody is in much of a hurry. Mike and I just look at each other and take a deep breathe. This is what we came here for. To slow way down.....the locals will force it to happen if we don't comply.

Sunday May 27th- the guys spent time outlining exactly where the house will sit on the pad. This has to be square so the concrete guy can pour the pad. Inch by inch they got it square to the needed 30' x 48'. The septic tank was offloaded from the truck- the thing looks huge- 1000 gallons.

Today the plumber is stubbing in all of the services to the pad- water line and septic. We will be ready for concrete by tomorrow. Hopefully the "concrete guy" will put us at the top of the list since we are ready.

Many thanks to Mike's brother, Arlene and Arlene's brother/family as well as local Dustyto "excavator man" for their help all weekend. This has become a family & community event- thanks to all!

For those curious about the daylight hours....daylight is from about 0300 hrs to 2400 hrs right now. Consequently- I have my "zsa zsa gabor" eye thingies on at night- can't sleep in the daylight. I'm feeling like a "movie starrrrr"!! not.

Life Changes

Seems like life changes whether we want it to or not. The best thing is to find the best part of these changes and grab on for the adventure. So here we are moving to Alaska to establish a new territory, create a new enviroment for ourselves and a new home.



During our research we determined that you cannot move guns across Canada so that left one option- take the Alaska State Ferry from Bellingham to Juneau and then transfer to a second ferry (to Whittier, AK) that would bypass Canada by going through the Gulf of Alaska. Shipping was not an option- too expensive and too much exposure to theft. All of our "worldly" possessions are in a 16' trailer and in the canopied truck. All other stuff was given away to friends and family or donated.



So off we went- truck and trailer onto the ferry. Our cat "lily" had to stay in the truck cab. She did just fine as she had her cat box, food and water with her in the cab. We were able to do "pet calls" three times a day.....of course this was an interruption to her daily schedule to sleeping all day.



The Ferry from Bellingham to Juneau was really nice. It has a big dining room, cafeteria as well as open decks all around for viewing. The cabins weren't much different than a cruise ship- same size and accommodations. The only thing we did not have for entertainment was a disco floor and food troughs- something neither of us needed. If you wanted to take the ferry on the cheap- you could camp out on the upper decks in sleeping bags or tents. Looks like fun for younger people but I was amazed at the number of older (60s) people that were roughing it out in sleeping bags on the floors. The great thing about this ferry is the view.....we were able to see the inside passage without the distractions of a cruise ship. We met great people who were also not "cruise ship" type of people. The food was decent and not too expensive and the beds were firm. For once I slept soundly to the barely audible engine noise. I guess the other fun things about this ferry- what a great way to "watch people". I found myself acting like my dad- asking Mike- do you think they're married? Where do you think they came from? and on and on...



Of course I hope you all heard about the Ferry "Columbia"- we were the ferry that saved the "Empress of the North's" cruisers. We were to get off the ferry at 0500 hrs in Juneau but shortly after 0430 hrs- we were informed that we were going to assist in getting those people out of the cold. Luckily- they had plenty of help (fishing boats and other private boats) and all of the cruisers were in good shape. I don't know how that ship hit the rock- it was clearly marked and out of the water at least 6 feet. We brought the EN's cruisers on board and they had quite the stories to tell- they heard the hit, felt it hit and most were thrown from bed. Once we knew which ship it was, I was able to Google up the ship's history with my blackberry (yes there is some service out there). We were all amazed that it had three other groundings in the Columbia river,Portland area prior to this incident. Word to the wise- check out any history on cruising ships prior to cruising. It is amazing what you can find on the web.



We transferred to a different ferry - the Kendicott, taking us from Juneau to Whittier and arrived here on May 17th. It takes about one week do all of this but it was well worth the time and cost.



So a bit of catchup- since we have been here one week, alot of site work has been done. Old broken down trees removed, holes dug to mine gravel and just alot of digging. So enjoy the pictures. I'll post again soon.