Escape From the Prison Planet

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DRIVEN

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Apr 25, 2009
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Well, things escalated pretty quickly this week. The excavator dropped off equipment and got right to work.





The first order of business was to dig a new ditch to handle the upstream neighbors' irrigation runoff and then drop in a culvert to get water under the new driveway. That was just in the nick of time since today is the last day of irrigation. The ditches are now dry and the canals are almost empty.

Then he continued to move dirt from the house sight at the top of the lot to the low point of the new driveway.
 
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DRIVEN

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Excavation guy kept pushing dirt all day. Got the elevated part of the driveway all leveled out and to full width. Fire marshall requires 20' wide with a hammerhead turn around at the top. Kinda overkill, really. You could land a 747 on it.

It's a good 4-5' above ground level now and doesn't have gravel down yet. All that dirt came from the top of the hill where the house is going.

He also got the approach to the garage roughed in as well as getting close to grade for the house.



At that point the soil engineer came back out for final approval. His recommendations were pretty straightforward so hopefully it'll be ready for concrete by the end of next week. Hopefully.
 
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DRIVEN

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Local color post; Went for a little ride with my dad and some of his friends on Wednesday. We left Poison Creek just past the old stage stop and rode out across the border into Oregon to Succor Creek canyon.




On our way back we made a detour to the homestead and gravesite of Spanish Charley.

I don't know if it's historically accurate but legend goes that Charley was a shepherd living in a valley above Succor Creek with his sheep. There is water in the lowland at the homestead but it dried up in the late summer. In order to get his sheep to water he was forced to cross the corner of someone else's land. That land owner warned him not to do it again. Unfortunately his sheep still needed water and the next time Charley attempted to cross, the neighbor shot him dead. A couple days later the neighbor went in to town to turn himself in. He was later acquitted.
Lesson? No trespassing means no trespassing. (We had to jump a fence to get pics)

About all that remains of the homestead was 3 stone structures. Obviously several fires have gone through over the last 130 years so the only artifacts we saw were broken pieces of an old stove. Might be an interesting place to use a metal detector.

The most impressive thing to me was the stone fence that had been stacked. It went up one hill to the rock outcropping, down the other side, then another section beyond the next ridge. I would conservatively estimate 2-3 miles in length. Most of the stones were basketball sized or larger. I guess when you're living in the middle of nowhere in the 1800s there isn't much else to do. You may have to zoom in on the last photo to see it in the distance.


This is looking down into the valley from the homestead spot. Succor Creek runs through the bottom.


On the way back there were about half a dozen water crossings. I stayed dry until the last one that was deeper than it looked. I was in 18-20 inches of water with my legs up when my engine bogged and I had to put both feet on the creek bottom to keep from falling over. Oh well, I was mostly dry by the time we got back to the loading spot. The loop was only about 50 miles so it made a great 1/2 day trip.
 
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DRIVEN

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Well, it officially feels like fall now. Was 28* when I got up this morning with plenty of frost on the ground. They shut off the irrigation last friday so the canals are drying up. Smells like campfire from the wood stoves in the area.
20171015_101128.jpg

Also, my scaredy-pit has been trying to back into my lap for the last half hour because they're duck hunting over at the neighbor's place.
20171015_101810.jpg


I think I love fall in Idaho.
 
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pontiacgp

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This morning I finally located the irrigation line that comes across the top from the neighbor's place. I'll be capping it off because it runs right through where my basement will be.


why cap it off, you can have an indoor pool.....:D


that property you bought must be a part of heaven....:)
 
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DRIVEN

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I like it now. I'll love it when it's done.
The excavation guy has been on it most of the week and is hoping to have it compacted and ready for concrete by next Monday. Concrete crew is a couple weeks out though. There's a pretty strong housing boom on the other side of the river so getting subs out here is complicated. Another scheduling component is that EVERYBODY over here takes time off for hunting season. If we can push the schedule hard we might be framed and weathered in by Thanksgiving. Hopefully.
 
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deanlemans81

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Sep 7, 2010
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Wow, really nice place you have. with the house and shop it will be awsomme. I just finished a similar move this summer. We bought a new, 100+ year old farm house with 1.25 acres. Corn and soya fields all around with a small river across from us. the closest house is about 1/4 mile away. Love it.
 
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DRIVEN

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Glad you've found your spot. Life's too short not to be where you're supposed to be.
 
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