All dressed up and no place to go!

It seems as if we have been gearing up for this move for such a long time!  Yesterday (the original move date) came and went with a little bit of frustration.  This all should have been over by now!  Delaying the move made me nervous, but we do have just a little leeway---according to our contract with the county, the house MUST be moved by June 2.  There have been no crews at either site since Friday (a well deserved long weekend for most!) and it seems as if it has come to a standstill.  But it has not!  The house is ready to go--all we have to do is to get in there and move it!  Less than 48 hours until the scheduled move at about 9 a.m. Wednesday  morning.  The silver lining of the delay is the rather decent hour--the original move was scheduled for 7 a.m.  For now, we're all dressed up with no place to go.....

And so it goes.....

Went out today to show the crews my appreciation by bringing them a hot lunch.  Made a big ol' crockpot full of chili and a pineapple upside down cake.  Threw in some chips and sodas and made these working men very happy!  And, I don't get to entertain out in the shop very often!

These fellas were taking a minute to look at the house site before they get back to work.

I did find another little (!!) problem while I was there--the house site was about 20 feet to the right of where I had told the HH it should be and the angle was not quite right.  Guess the equipment operators will be back again---I'm a job creator, LOL!!!

Over at the house site, it looks like most of the beams are set under the house--

And out on Hazel Dell Road, the power and cable line work was getting done--

And the "Money Pit" (formerly know as the Harebrained Scheme)  is just about ready to "Move on down the road!"  

Just a little delay

No deed goes unpunished.  After being assured and reassured by the PUD that there would be "no charge" to lift the lines we needed lifted in order to move the house, we now find that we have to pay a substantial amount for this service.  Our originally planned move date, May 26, falls on a holiday weekend and would cost a WHOLE lot more due to having to pay overtime.  Comcast feels the same way and wants to charge about double for doing the work on a Sunday.  So.....the house move has been rescheduled to the early morning of Wednesday, May 29.  County has been notified, a new road closure announcement will be going out, the moving company is actually happy because THEIR crew will also not have to work on Sunday.  The only ones unhappy would be us.  But C'est la vie....

Work is continuing at both sites.  Steel beams had arrived at the house site yesterday when I was out there in the afternoon, and the new site is looking better all the time.  Wish we could take out all the trees that are behind the site, 'cause this city girl doesn't like the scary woods or the shade they will cause on the (eventual) gardens or in the house, but HH tells me that is a project for another day.  Right now we are just doing what we need to do to get this darn house moved.

I've stopped asking "How much is THAT going to cost?" because it just freaks me out every time.  Better to just do what we need to do and  worry about that at the end of it all.  It's not like we're in a good place for negotiation and we ARE kind of in the middle of it now, with no backing out!!  

Getting ready to roll!

The house moving company has been working diligently since Tuesday.  They took out the concrete garage floor and dug down about 5 feet!  It looks like a bomb went off in there!

Lots is going on at the building site, also.  The top of our driveway needed to be a little wider.

And, a few trees needed to be cleared out.

They were still working when I left for the day (had to do a little grocery shopping--the cupboards were bare!). Things at both sites shaping up nicely!!

Getting permits, moving overhead lines, prepping the site, checking the well water, getting foundation drawings approved...WOW, my HH is SUPERMAN!!!  Well, without the tights...and the cape and the flying thing, but, you know ;)  When the house moves on Sunday, we will have had possession of it for only 12 days!  And would you believe that we're still running a business, a household, and going on with our various volunteer and community activities?  Nope, I wouldn't believe it either if I weren't right smack in the middle of it myself!

And so the craziness begins....

Wrote checks to the county for the house, contacted the mover to let them know we have it for sure and can move forward.  Had to get insurance certificates from the mover for the county.  Contacted the PUD about moving power lines the day of the move.  Went to Building and Planning to make sure we had the permit they had originally told us we needed.  Uh-oh.....there was some mis-communication somewhere and it turns out that we need to have our well checked out, have septic drawings made and apply for the septic permits before we can move the house!  Yikes.  Oh, and we also need to have drawings for the foundation.  All in the next week.  Luckily HH is a creative, out-of-the box kind of guy.  He said that the foundation for the house had already been built once--perhaps we could get those drawings to use!  No use reinventing the wheel, huh? A few phone calls later and a LOT of help from a nice lady named Ruth at the original builder's office and we had our plan.

Today our son-in-law was out there removing the fence so that the movers will have good access to remove the house.  As a bonus, he is in the process of building a play structure for the grand kids and the fencing will be put to good use.  I was able to get into the house (not such a simple task--it had been broken into while empty and getting in requires removing a piece of plywood that is currently securing the front door) and show my daughter around.  Also took a few pictures of the kitchen, which we will be totally remodeling, and took some measurements.  They have the deck most of the way off and we are in high gear getting things ready.  The house moving company will be here on Tuesday.  We have a lot to do before then.

The Beginning

A couple of days ago we were the successful bidders for a house.  Not so strange, really...lots of folks bid on and acquire new homes.  But this one IS different!  The county is getting ready to do a road project and change the intersection of two roads near some property we own--where our shop for our business is located and where we have hoped to someday build a house and live.  We built the shop for our business out there several years ago, but just hadn't been willing or able to begin building a house.  Until opportunity came knocking.  As part of the process for acquiring right of ways for the project, the county contacted us concerning a piece of our 15 acres that they needed.  During the discussion, HH happened to ask what was going to become of the house on the property next door, which he had noted was in the direct path of the new intersection.  They told us that they had purchased it and were going to demolish the house.  A little niggle began to form in his brain, and before I knew it we were on the road to finding out if it was possible to acquire the house and move it to a building site on our property next door--I told him that it sounded like a "Harebrained Scheme!"

Now, when I say next door, you must think in rather grand terms--the house sits on about 2 acres and our little piece of paradise next door is just over 15 acres.  Now, the county wasn't sure that this was a good idea.  They have time constraints--the house must be off the property by June 2 in order for their project to begin on time or they could lose federal money that is helping to fund the project.  They were concerned that it couldn't be moved in that amount of time.  They had already looked into moving it, but property would have to be purchased, and a state highway would have to be closed to move it.  It didn't sound feasible.

When we learned that the public works department would be asking the Cowlitz County Commissioners to allow them to "dispose" of the house, we attended the commissioner's meeting and asked them to consider putting it up for auction, which would save the county the costs of demolition, keep a LARGE amount of materials out of the waste stream, AND would keep the house on the tax roles and keep revenue coming in for the county---a win for everyone!  The commissioner's eventually did order the house to be surplussed, and we entered our bid on May 14, 2013.  We were the high (and only) bidders and our bid was accepted that same afternoon.  Now, you know that there was a lot of nail biting and second-guessing during the several weeks we had to wait, not to mention figuring out who could move this thing down the road for us, what permits, etc. we would need, and HOW THE HECK we were going to get all this done in the short amount of time that we would have after our bid was (hopefully) selected.

Here's a picture of our Harebrained Scheme.....

Countdown...

Just about 48 hours until we know for sure that our "harebrained scheme" will be moving forward!  I'm excited and nervous.  We've invested so much, both financially and emotionally and I am trying to stay positive that everything is going to go well and by Tuesday afternoon, I will be able to share our REALLY BIG news!!!