End of Summer

Well I didn't accomplish as much as I had originally expected to do over the course of the summer. I really expected that the building permit would have been issued by the end of May. It wasn't issued until the 6th of July. So what did we get accomplished this summer? Well a lot of clearing. I had the pleasure to get to know Rodger and Audrey my neighbors to the south. They are excellent neighbors. Friendly, helpful and were anxious to have some of their property cleared too. So I cleared father back than was required for building. It helped Rodger and Audrey out as well as myself. I personally cleared a lot on the river side. Dropping Pepper Trees as well as cutting up dead Australian Pines. Good progress but still a lot to do. I did put in steel fence posts along the northern property line and ran a couple strands of wire to delineate it. It took a lot longer than expected to remove all the debris. The big trunks had to be cut into smaller pieces in order to to be accepted at the land fill. Everything just took a lot of time.

We had the foot print of the house drilled to be sure that there would be no issues with the foundation as stated in the plans. The report came back favorable. But we still have to follow their recommendations in order to build the foundation as shown in the plans. Saul did the leveling and compaction of the fill sand. I believe we used about nine truck loads of fill sand. The soil engineers came out again and took measurements to insure that the compaction is as required. Hopefully we will know the results the first week of September. I was told by Time that Saul uncovered two really large root balls that needed to be taken out prior to filling. Apparently once removed they left a hole of about twenty feet in diameter and five feet deep each! That requires a lot of sand to fill that hole.

Florida Power and Light threw us a curve ball. We applied for temporary power. This is what they will provide for temporary power where I am located. They will place a temporary pole eighty feet from the permanent pole that has the transformer. Then place the temporary meter. Period. The only problem is that the house is two hundred and seventy feet from the permanent pole. So the temporary power is still one hundred and ninety feet from the house. I explained this to the engineer and he told me to use extension cords! Unbelievable. So I told him I'm no dummy. I sort of know a little bit about current and resistance, you know Ohms Law, and told him that won't work. So he told me, "Well you don't get temporary power." So we will have to start building using generators. I asked about the permanent power. I have two options.

Option 1 - Place a permanent power pole with transformer two hundred feet in the property along the property line. Then run the line either above or below ground to the house. I asked him who pays for the pole and transformer? He stated that the company would estimate their revenue from the house for a year and multiply that by four and then subtract that amount from their cost. And whatever was left I had to pay. Also I have to give them a ten foot easement in order to maintain the power pole and line. I told them that won't work because I have gopher tortoises with ten feet of the property and they would have to be moved. His answer, you have to move them. My answer, I've already spent $6000.00 dollars removing tortoises. If you want them removed you get to pay for it and its not coming back to me. He said well I guess you have to do option number two.

Option 2  - Run the power line under ground from the power line at the front of the property. I told him great because our electrician who works with you told use that is what we would need to do just to get temporary power. He contacted his friends at FPL and told them the situation. We dug a trench 36 inches deep and put in a two inch conduit for FPL to run the line through. He says, you have to remove the conduit and fill in the trench. FPL will fill dig the trench and run the conduit. No one else can. Unbelievable. No common sense at all on the FPL side.

So we are going with option two but we're trying to talk with someone higher up who might actually come out to see the situation. Stay tuned. Oh and it will take six to eight weeks to have the connection finished. Once all the paperwork is completed. And we can't have the permanent connection anyway until the foundation is complete so the permanent meter can be installed. Its SNAFU yet again.

So anyway here are some pictures that give you some idea as to what's been happening.

Tree standing.

Tree down!

Lots of debris.

More debris.

The big trunks that had to be cut up.

The trench for the power that will have to be filled in so FPL can dig it again!

 We now have an entrance gate.

This group of three Australian Pines was actually laying on the bank toward the road. As I cut the two trunks into small pieces, eventually the righting moment took hold and the entire mass rotated vertical in slow motion. It was pretty cool! They are dead and the mass is just sitting on the sand.

This is where the dock will be placed.

Photo taken from Rodger and Audrey's Tiki bar, showing the fill sand being delivered. We had approximately nine to ten truck loads delivered.

Almost all the fill vibrated.

Now ready for the compaction test.