First things first - get a soil test for a new septic. That was done June 10, 2019. Of course the soil test passed with flying colors. First 10 inches is loam, then sandy loam for about 2 feet then pure sand. Kind of what we all knew. I selected Ed Neuens for my septic supplier. For most of the sub contracting I'll use my builder's subs. But I thought it would be best to have someone local for my septic. My Sanitary permit was issued August 7.

Next up was clearing trees. Emotionally, this was the most difficult part for me. I love the forests and understand what a vital part they play in the ecosystem we live in. The one consolation was that oak wilt is sweeping through Dunns Point area. I had already lost 17 oaks to oak wilt a couple of years ago and there were 2 big oaks with it as we started cutting mid July. And by October 2019, long after I had cleared the trees for the house, 4 more trees died of oak wilt. More than likely, I will lose all of them except maybe the ones by the lake that are more isolated.

Logging TreesThis oak was approximately 135 years oldDecking logs into the various piles - saw logs vs. bolts vs. firewood

I really wanted to sell the logs to a sawmill instead of just using them for firewood. The trees I cut 2 years ago had gone to a maple syrup producer for firewood. But they had been dead, these were live when we cut them (or in case of the oak wilt victims, recently alive.) Selling them turned out to be harder than I expected since in August suddenly all the mills within 30 miles quit buying oak. Seems that a significant portion of our oak goes to China (Who knew?) and with the trade war going on, China had quit importing our oak. Finally, Florence Hardwoods started taking oak again in September. A really nice logger, Dennis Podner, agreed to truck the logs to the mill. I gave him the firewood quality and the bolts (small logs) that there was no market for and he transported the 43 saw logs for me at no charge. In the end I got $1000 for the wood, nowhere near the cost of cutting and skidding them. But at least they didn't go for firewood.

Power pole being removed

September 24, 2019 we finally got the building Permit. And October 8, 2019 the power company removed the power pole. Finally ready to dig.

Permits displayed prominently