Tractor puttering.

The rest of the week was mostly thinking about the transition from the tiny when the shell gets put up, and I think I have a plan for that doesn't involve me buying a camper.  When they go to do the slab work, I will empty the slab into the portable garage I bought for emptying the shed to do the floor.  I will pull the tiny home off the slab, and drag it to the parking spot at the bottom.  From there, I will live in the tiny home.  I intend to use the power center to run the tiny home through the generator plug (my only 240V is the heat pump and the water pump).  Should I need heat, use a space heater.  Should I want AC, use a window unit (I have one in the shed).  For water, I will have to bring it in.  I think I can get potable water for free at work (there is a spicket on the outside of the building by the door), though having to buy water for a few weeks wouldn't hurt too bad.  I can get a portable storage black tank for RVs to catch the water, and just bring in water to work with.  Likewise, use a portable toilet.  The slab should be complete before either the toilet or the portable gray water tank are full so they can be dumped, and worst case the lid for my septic tank is exposed and I can dump them that way (it wasn't buried properly).  

Once the garage is installed (should only take a couple of days), the first thing is to build the utility room.  I will also need to install the electric panel at this time.  I am not 100% clear what will be required for the electric (like will I have to run the wire to the pole), but once I have mains coming into the building, I can do the rest.  I might see if have the electric company do it as a second 200A drop so they will get the power to the building.  This means I will have dual 200A meters, one for the future detached garage and shed, and one for the house.  I expect my portion of the work will not be the critical path for this (I only need to do some rough-in for a couple of electric circuits and some framing and subflooring), it will probably be the electric company or the water company to come and hook up the pressure tank and all that.  I expect that this will take a week or so before I can call the other guys in, then a couple of weeks waiting for them.  During this time, I can also empty the tiny home out into one of the garage bays, so I will end up living in the garage.  From there, I can install the utility room sink and have running water in the utility room.  From there, it is just a matter of finishing the house.  

Once the weekend rolled around, I got around to doing some work.  It was overcast (hard to see the smoke since I don't have a burn permit) and calm and for whatever reason I woke up early Saturday (despite being out late Friday night) so I lit the burn barrel.

As that was burning down, I went out back and looked.  I finally have some grass germinating in the back, the little green specks.  Tractor Supply claimed this was fast germinating, but I don't think several weeks is fast.  

After that I did some driveway work until Sam arrived for a visit.  After he left, I got the rest of the driveway complete.  

I took almost 9 buckets of gravel out of the driveway.  That is a lot.  If I had a desperate need for more, I could easily have taken another bucket or two without degrading the quality of the driveway as well.  I really really overdid it when I put the gravel down last year.  And after that, you almost can't tell that I took probably over 2 ton of rock out of it.  It still looks nice and is still nice and smooth.

I used a couple buckets down in the front where I was leveling, the rest I put in the back yard where I am trying to raise the yard so I can mow it without having to go up and down.

Sunday was pretty toasty.  When I got up, I checked the burn barrel.  I was surprised the pile of newspapers and whatnot at the bottom didn't burn up.  

I got the burn barrel reloaded for the next round.  I typically just load it and light it, watch it until the fire is completely contained within the barrel, and then go on to other stuff.  I don't continuously feed it throughout the day.  

The pile of wood to burn is getting quite small.  I waited so long to run the burn barrel this year though that some of the wood on the right has actually started biodegrading though.  Oops.  

After that I played with my tractor a little bit.  I discovered that I have been adjusting the three point hitch incorrectly.  I had been dropping the blade off to tighten the pivot.  Turns out you can just spin it while it is on the tractor.  I will need to drop it to correct it at some point, but at least for now I can actually raise the blade enough to drive on non-flat ground with the tractor again.  

I got the front completely done and leveled.  I also planted more grass seed.  

Turns out there were a few hidden large rocks in the front.

After that I went out to play some games, and it rained while we were there, so I didn't rush home to play in the mud.  The driveway is complete for this year.  I might do a little bit more driveway smoothing before winter, but that will be done in the late fall when there is no chance of it being screwed up before the ground freezes.  Since the guy from La Valley never called me back, I am not marking the plan as complete, but I think at this point final number from them is all that is left on that.

Summer projects:

• Prep truck for trade in
• Determine house plans (modular vs mobile vs stick)
• Get my power service upgraded
• Shed floor
• Shed doors
• Concrete shed supports
• Anti-mouse the shed (seal it, maybe spray with pepper spray or something)
• Eliminate pile of crap in the back yard.  
• Level the yard.
• Investigate retaining wall construction. 
• Install windows in the shed.
• Fix/sell the utility trailer.
• Driveway round 5
• Get building permit
• Determine the future method of travel.  Build prototype?
• Come up with garage plans
• Clear walking trails on lot.  
• Build a bridge over the creek