site and security

Sorry for the delay, a lot of long weekends on the mountain lately and there hasn't been much time for blog updates.  Wait, that's not the right attitude to have now is it?

A couple of weeks ago I had Bob Matzen join me on the home site with his skid steer and we were able to wrap up all of the initial grading.  Since then we've had some rain storms and the site appears to be holding up as we intended.

Before Bob started on the mountain we met to discuss a game plan.  As we talked, we walked towards the dozer to check things out.  At first glance, everything seemed to be intact.  At secondly glance we noticed that someone had been on the site and stolen the exhaust pipe and lights off of the dozer.  Really?  Yep, someone had the nerve to swipe these parts and take off.

Maybe I was naive, but not anymore.  I never thought we'd have to worry about anything happening on the mountain, but I was wrong.  Needless to say we've taken steps to discourage this activity in the future.

We've got a camera on the mountain now and I'm monitoring activity, traffic and critters.  I've posted signs and installed two posts with a heavy logging chain hung between them to restrict traffic on our property.  Instead of catching the crooks, I've opted for deterrence.  I hung one of those, "smile, you're on camera," sings at the driveway.

From what I've seen so far, people are just driving right on by; but now they're looking for the camera.

["Smile, you're on camera."]

 

[The possible culprit for ramming my neighbors gate.]

 

[And here's a shot at ground level.]

I try to move the camera frequently to avoid someone seeing it.  It's really hard to find the perfect spot.  Sometimes it takes hours to convince yourself that the camera isn't visible by someone looking.  Its almost better to set it out and just go with it.  Ultimately, the sign at the driveway is doing the most work; "stay away, or else."

Anyhow, the forms for the footers should be onsite next week as they start with the well and things will take off from there.  Steph and I are spending some time over the weekend selecting materials for the house.  More to come, and yes, I'll start videoing soon ;-)