Measuring the Road

This weekend we "measured the road". Now before you get all excited, let me tell you, it's not as exciting as one would think. What? You didn't think it sounded that exciting to begin with? Ok...you were right.

It started at the crack of dawn when Dad donned his orange shirt and I a fluorescent yellow shirt that said "Safety First" on the back. I found out why I had the privilege of the bright yellow shirt when we got there...I was the one that got to play in the middle of Wheeler Road. Mom, I know you always told me to stay out of the road...but Dad made me do it.

Measuring the road is pretty much a method of getting a starting point for my property line. It is measured as an offset from the center of the road. To get that starting point I had to stand in the middle of the intersection with a tape measure while Dad stood in the ditch pounding in stakes. Standing in the middle of the road was not a problem in the early morning hours, but later in the afternoon when we re-checked ourselves traffic was a bit heavier and some quicker measurements had to be made. :)

Once we had a starting point for the lot we started measuring the rest of it to put stakes along it. We had our 4-corners staked out, but something didn't quite look right. After trespassing along my neighbor's back yard we found a survey marker on the opposite side of their property. Upon measurement from that mark we found that the stake that has been marking my property line for 4 years now was about 5 1/2 feet into my neighbor's yard. With that remedied we RE-MEASURED everything and felt much better with the layout of the lot lines.

We then re-staked the house and septic field using these lot lines for a more accurate depiction of where everything is on the lot.

I also got to do some finish work on my lawn. I powered up the weed whacker and went to town around the stakes that Mr. Farmer couldn't get to with his tractor. Man am I glad that my dad doesn't half-ass anything when it comes to buying tools, lawn equipment, etc...I was hacking down what could be considered small trees with that weed whacker! You would make Tim Allen proud Dad.

While we were out working we had two people stop by asking if we had an excavator yet and if we were interested in having them quote it. I think I'm going to put a sign out by the road "New Construction...Want to Bid? Appointments Saturdays 9 a.m. Bring coffee and doughnuts!"

After our work on-site was finished we made a trip into Menards. Dad bought me a front door while we were there! Once again, don't get too excited...it was only $2 and it came from their 'bargain' section of scratched, dented, and miscut doors. It will actually be used as a construction door when we need to put one on the house.

I'm was pretty tired after the long day...and I'm a little worried about how my body is going to feel when we start doing REAL work on the house. But I know it will be worth every bit of it!