Got my plums in a row

Well it's finally happening!! The build has begun...almost.

But alas I am overdue in my update, so let's back up a bit.....

If you remember I made some repairs to the greenhouse, fixed the door and then patched the roof. Since then, three really big winter windstorms arrived, hitting right after one another.... Really strong winds and lots of rain. I think it was storm number two that ripped my roof repair right off. 

Perhaps hard to see in this photo below is an arbutus branch bent right over. 

Hopefully it will regain some strength and stand up again...

Another visit and I decided to get out the clippers and clean up the front flower box. I will point out that cleaning up the brush to expose the nicer vegetation is difficult when you don't really know what is what. Hopefully I did not cut back much of the good stuff.

It's here on the corner of the lot that you can see that the metal fence was put up a long time ago. 

Life went on and the fence was ignored; trees, blackberry bushes and stuff grew up around the fence. 

And now ... 'A fence runs through it'

My further diggings revealed the front area wooden borders and ooh look some holly the deer have not eaten. I was excited about this only to learn a few weeks later this type is an evil weed, not a nice bush. Awe...

The project of the day was to find the fence line in the mess of blackberry bushes and other stuff, like old tarps, rotting wood, piles of brick, and other clippings and vegetation. That way the land can be cleared easily with the backhoe.

In the picture below you can see two of my Italian plum trees. The biggest tree is just out of the picture on the left... In the (will be) bathroom. You can also see some scotch broom trees that are on the neighbours side of the fence. Hopefully the neighbour will let me take them out as well.... evil weeds.

And below is a look from the other direction, looking back west toward the road. At one point while pulling back some old rotting plastic tarps, a pretty good size rat ran out and scared the %£&* out of me.  

Nevermind bears, it's the snakes and rats that scare me!

Not sure how or where I will use the bricks, but figure they are worth saving. 

And then some time went by.... 

.....the permit application went in, 

....Christmas and New Years Day went by.

And I waited most impatiently for things to start.

.....

I chose some exterior colours, I bought my fridge and cooktop, (Boxing Day sales). I even bought my fancy deep tub. 

I provided my (will be) address for delivery and it ships in three weeks.... 

So let's get at it!!!!

.....

Finally.... 

No, I do not have the actual permit yet. 

But the building inspector has finally looked at things and it should be issued next week. I am permitted to start digging, just no building yet.

The piece of wood in the picture above is a marker of where the sewer line is located. The bush will be moved, but I decided that walnut tree will have to go. We will have to dig deep to find the cap on the pipe and then run it up to the house. The tree, which will be in the way, had not yet produced any walnuts and I think that the one tree will fine. The little bush can be moved and then moved back.

And then we had to move the tree out of the bathroom. Below you can see it is now in line with the other two and the fence line has been exposed.

Behind the house was a stick of an apple tree that had to be moved as well; too close to the house for the build and it would obscure a clear view of the yellow plum tree from the bedroom, so it had to be moved! Not sure if it will stay where it was placed, but good for now.

So the digging begins. As expected we find lots of sand and a few rocks....

I suspect in time I will find a good place for most of my rocks as well....

Today was just a test dig to see what was below...the dump truck will be here in a couple more days. Luckily a neighbour will take the fill from the hole. All the crap from the scraping/ clearing will probably have to go the dump (separated out yard waste and plastic tarps)

And so it has begun, but only sort of.... Sadly I will be busy when the rest of the digging happens next so I will not be able to get too many pictures. 

Stand by for the forms, concrete and walls...