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Work has begun inside our home at Maisto Mountain! We have had one weekend of plumbing work completed. Brad worked with our plumber to determine where the plumbing lines go for our master bath and our upstairs guest bathroom. As you can see from the pictures, our guest bathroom shower has been set in place and is looking good! We also have the laundry room laid out. We have more plumbing work scheduled to be completed this weekend (Oct. 3-4).
Brad and I were able to walk through the home together on Sept. 25 and discuss in detail where lights and electrical outlets will be placed. Brad met with the electrician on Sept. 26 and began the work. The electrician is working up a detailed plan of where our lights and sockets will be placed so that we are all on the same page. Brad and I have selected our ceiling fans, recessed lighting, bath fans, master bath lights, a couple of special display lights (library and entryway), and what I call the primary “hugger lights” that will be standard for our halls, closets, guest bedrooms, etc. Our light selections are either LED lighting fixtures or fixtures that can use LED bulbs, which will help us save on electricity costs for years to come. We still have a few more selections to make, including outdoor lighting. You never know how many lights a home has until you build one!
Brad also has been working very hard to hang the insulation for our basement bedrooms and get them “drywall ready.” You can see from the pictures that he’s really been busy. He’s earned a few blisters and even broken a drill bit or two, but the insulation is looking great!
In addition, Brad has met with a Department of Natural Resources forester who is developing a forestry plan for us that will help us lower both the taxes and the maintenance on sections of our land. This will include developing a plan to plant a few acres of trees in the near future. The forester also helped Brad discover our paw-paw patch in the woods. Brad was able to take me on a personal tour when I visited last weekend (Sept. 25-26). You may have heard references to the old song, “Way Down Yonder in the Paw-Paw Patch.” Well, the paw-paw fruit really does exist! It’s a fruit that grows on an undergrowth tree in the woods, and it looks like a small lime. However, the fruit itself is soft when it’s ripe – similar to a banana or kiwi – and it tastes a lot like the tropical fruit papaya. The seeds, however, are huge! You may have five or more seeds in one small paw paw, and the seeds are the size of a pecan half. So the paw paw really makes you work for its fruit. Not only do you have to hunt it down in the middle of the forest, but you have to work around the seeds as well! I have read that you can make pulp out of the paw paw fruit for cookies, breads, and even pies, but we have not tried that yet. Brad and I just like the taste of the raw fruit and think it’s well worth the work. It’s also a fun adventure to go hunting for the fruit out in the woods.
In addition to the paw paw fruit, we have discovered four persimmon trees on the ridge of our property that overlooks our new home. We hope you like persimmon pudding if you come to visit in the fall! We certainly do. It’s a good thing we boxed up Brad’s mother’s conical aluminum sieve strainer with wooden pestle. We’re going to get some great use out of it mashing persimmon pulp!
We are slowly making progress inside the home. We must reiterate that this is a slow – but extremely important – part of the process. Brad will work with the skilled tradesmen to make sure our plumbing, electricity, and HVAC get installed well and done right, and then we can move on to other, more visible installations inside the home. But, after all, everyone wants their water, electricity, and heating and air to work right, so we are happy to have a great crew on board and working on our home!
For now, we just celebrate every small bit of progress and enjoy our discoveries inside the woods.
Brad and I were able to walk through the home together on Sept. 25 and discuss in detail where lights and electrical outlets will be placed. Brad met with the electrician on Sept. 26 and began the work. The electrician is working up a detailed plan of where our lights and sockets will be placed so that we are all on the same page. Brad and I have selected our ceiling fans, recessed lighting, bath fans, master bath lights, a couple of special display lights (library and entryway), and what I call the primary “hugger lights” that will be standard for our halls, closets, guest bedrooms, etc. Our light selections are either LED lighting fixtures or fixtures that can use LED bulbs, which will help us save on electricity costs for years to come. We still have a few more selections to make, including outdoor lighting. You never know how many lights a home has until you build one!
Brad also has been working very hard to hang the insulation for our basement bedrooms and get them “drywall ready.” You can see from the pictures that he’s really been busy. He’s earned a few blisters and even broken a drill bit or two, but the insulation is looking great!
In addition, Brad has met with a Department of Natural Resources forester who is developing a forestry plan for us that will help us lower both the taxes and the maintenance on sections of our land. This will include developing a plan to plant a few acres of trees in the near future. The forester also helped Brad discover our paw-paw patch in the woods. Brad was able to take me on a personal tour when I visited last weekend (Sept. 25-26). You may have heard references to the old song, “Way Down Yonder in the Paw-Paw Patch.” Well, the paw-paw fruit really does exist! It’s a fruit that grows on an undergrowth tree in the woods, and it looks like a small lime. However, the fruit itself is soft when it’s ripe – similar to a banana or kiwi – and it tastes a lot like the tropical fruit papaya. The seeds, however, are huge! You may have five or more seeds in one small paw paw, and the seeds are the size of a pecan half. So the paw paw really makes you work for its fruit. Not only do you have to hunt it down in the middle of the forest, but you have to work around the seeds as well! I have read that you can make pulp out of the paw paw fruit for cookies, breads, and even pies, but we have not tried that yet. Brad and I just like the taste of the raw fruit and think it’s well worth the work. It’s also a fun adventure to go hunting for the fruit out in the woods.
In addition to the paw paw fruit, we have discovered four persimmon trees on the ridge of our property that overlooks our new home. We hope you like persimmon pudding if you come to visit in the fall! We certainly do. It’s a good thing we boxed up Brad’s mother’s conical aluminum sieve strainer with wooden pestle. We’re going to get some great use out of it mashing persimmon pulp!
We are slowly making progress inside the home. We must reiterate that this is a slow – but extremely important – part of the process. Brad will work with the skilled tradesmen to make sure our plumbing, electricity, and HVAC get installed well and done right, and then we can move on to other, more visible installations inside the home. But, after all, everyone wants their water, electricity, and heating and air to work right, so we are happy to have a great crew on board and working on our home!
For now, we just celebrate every small bit of progress and enjoy our discoveries inside the woods.