Rough Beginnings

The first two weeks back in the US have been a bit on the rough side.  This time was set aside for getting the house up and running for the first renters on 18-April.  The spring opening of the rental season is always a lot of work, but this year the effort was complicated by the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Sandy last fall.  Luckily, we had a lot of help from the Mike Rinker and his two nephews to get the trails open on time.

Rough spot on the trail to High Bluff

We've also decided to get the garden in shape this year so that it's not such an eye-sore for our guests and could maybe even be considered a feature.   This little patch of ground hasn't been worked in over 9 years, so we thought that we'd start with a controlled burn to get started...emphasis on "controlled".

Burning the brush without hurting the apple trees

Then there was the cleaning and window washing and flower planting and grill area setup and on and on and on.   I did have some time to begin thinking about the business and began with the permitting process.  What a nightmare!  I quickly learned the meaning of the word bureaucracy.   The first obstacle is the entrance permit.  There is an existing road, gate, and drainage culvert at the entrance point to the business site, so I thought it would be a simple process of "check the box".

But no, no, no.  The county roads department will not issue the permit unless I move the entrance 30 feet further down the road.

Cha-ching!  Add $2500 to the business plan, investment column.  Potential additional return? $0.

I've also run into some trouble with the EPA because of a puddle (yes, puddle) next to the existing road.  I do have wetlands nearby, but have no intention of disturbing them and will even use them as a feature for the campers.  But this little puddle?!?!?  Are you kidding me??  I'm meeting with an engineer tomorrow to discuss options.

There is also one crappy little shed at the glamping site that I needed to get cleaned out in order to store some equipment in for the construction.   I needed to do this quickly because it was a rat, snake, wasp, and questionable toxic material infested shack which I needed to deal with prior to these little critters got too active (except the toxic material...no avoiding that).

Everything clean...except my lungs.

Finally, I also dropped the tractor over at the shop for a much needed tune-up.  She's going to get a serious workout this summer!

Joy riding on Herrington Manor Road

Planes, Trucks, Snowblowers, and Bears

We survived!!!!!

It was a brutally long day where just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong.  It started with a particularly snotty woman who wouldn't check us in at Schiphol because pets were "too much work" so she passed us to her colleague (who's line was three times as long) who had never done the paperwork for pets and was terrified of dogs; then picked right back up on the other side of the ocean  with the equally snotty immigration woman at Dulles who threatened to call the police on us for having the dog outside of the kennel;  and continued right through the incredibly long lines to get through customs and climaxed with the truck with the completely dead battery.  I only wish that I had the foresight to take a picture of the parking lot strewn with all of our belongings (including pets) with the hood of the truck up and the baffled look on the Romanian cab driver who was trying to give us a jump start ("No lights?  No lights?  Now? Lights?  Now? No Lights?)

But there were also some real gems on the journey as well, like the stewardess who wouldn't let the doors of the airplane closed until she was sure that the pets were on board, to the customs woman in America who helped us slip past a host of bureaucracy ("Just say 'yes' to my questions, then you can be on your way.")

In the end, we got on the road about 3 hours behind schedule and forced our way down the driveway covered in over a foot of heavy, wet snow well after 10:00 on Monday night.

But the next few days were brilliant blue sky and 65 degrees (F) ... it seems that I haven't felt air like this nor seen skies so blue in many, many years.  I fired up the snowblower, bought two new chainsaws, and dove into clearing the trails...back breaking work and mind numbing bliss!

Here are some pics from the mass migration:

Practicing for the flight.

A little bit of luxury to relieve the stress...intercontinental business class!

 No worse for wear.   Sage has adapted really well, although it is an odd situation dealing with a dog with jet lag.  Awake at 3:00 AM; hungry at 2:00 PM.   But at the end of the day, all that mattered was sunshine and snow.  Here she is playing with the original "bucket on a rope"...I have almost the same picture from 9 years ago.  The cats are also adapting very well.

 Welcome to Appalachia...where duct tape repairs to gloves are just part of a normal day.

Never mind the snow or broken trees...look at that sky!

 

Last night when I left Sage out to pee, she immediately started barking and I heard crashing through the woods.  It definitely wasn't deer, but I wasn't sure what it was until this morning...a bear raiding the bird feeder!  You can see the claw marks on the tree that he climbed to reach and swat the bottom of the feeder away.  Sage now thinks she's the "big dog" on the block and can take on anything.