The start of the outhouse and drainage ditch.
The first part of April was spent finishing up work at my parent’s house and the second half we felt like we could take break and spend some time in West Virginia. The ferns were spiraling up and out. Everything is greening up and the trees Ryan planted are starting to leaf out.
Ryan has stayed the night there a few times by himself and it is like camping in a barn. While there he has noticed a fair amount of water collecting under the cabin and in the many holes he has dug in looking for the best place for an outhouse. Due to this he has begun to dig a drainage ditch behind the cabin to divert the water away from the cabin. While the property sits along a ridge the location of the cabin is in the lower part where water congregates before traveling further downhill. We had a load of gravel delivered to help cover the ditch and some of the areas that seem to collect water. See the photos below.
In conjunction, Ryan has worked hard digging a hole for the outhouse and fitting a metal barrel in the hole. Since I haven’t been as often due to my work schedule he has done a lot on his own. I did hold the barrel while he cut off the bottom and at one point was doubtful it was going to be possible, but he switched out a blade and made short work of it.
I’m anxious for school to come to a close so we can both spend more time there. Ryan is also hoping to get the boys there to help with a variety of projects. Ryan and Luke did purchase a gate from D&G Equipment and started to dig the holes for the posts but they were met with bedrock as well a smoking auger. Luckily the rental fee for the auger was waved.
This now brings us to Mother’s Day in which I was able to spend time with my second mother and father, Barbara and Mike, who helped raise me from 1st – 6th grade. Barbara was my babysitter and their daughter Tracey, my dear childhood friend. We were more like sisters than friends with the amount of time I spent at their house. Barbara and Mike live not quite an hour north of us and have been watching our WV property purchase unfold. About 30 years ago they embarked on a similar project buying land in West Virginia. They started off camping on weekends, then buying an RV, then a shed and finally began building the house that they live in today. Seeing that our stories were similar, they brought a few very generous housewarming gifts to help get us started. It is nice to connect with someone who knows what you are experiencing and moreover when it’s people who watched you grow up.
