Gregory Kemp

Happy New Year

I hope everyone had a great holiday and I wish you all the best for 2012.  

We had a wonderful time visiting family in South Carolina in Florida.  The weather was stellar. We were able to go in the pool four straight days down in Florida.

You've probably noticed that there hasn't been an update here in two months.  Well not much has happened with our West Virginia cabin project.  We've made a couple of trips out there to get some firewood and take measurements for a garden we are building, but other than that winter is too damn cold to be on a mountain.

We have big plans for the development of our land this year including a substantial garden, a large fire pit, a septic system, and more roads.  First up is the garden.  We're prepping a 1000 square foot area for spring planting and we're selected a site for a small greenhouse.  Details to come.  Stay tuned! 

Halloween 2011

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.  It's the candy corn. There.  Another great thing is our annual halloween party. We normally have a party theme such as medieval or pirates or superheroes. This year the theme was international vampires.  I came dressed as a vampire Crocodile Dundee and the Diplomat was a vampire sumo wrestler.  Top prize went to Rich and Stacy the viking vampires.  Incidentally I won the party prize for "Most Likely to Puke", an award our dog normally takes home.  (It was foolish for them to vote for me.  Aside from bad food in Montenegro in 2008 I haven't blown chunks since 1993...that's 1 vomit in nearly 20 years.) Here are some pictures from the party:  Halloween 2011.  Don't worry, no puking involved.

There is one part of halloween I don't like so much.  It's manning the front door for the trick-or-treaters.  I don't know what happened during the last twenty years but when I was a kid it worked like this: you wore a COSTUME, you knocked on the door and said TRICK-OR-TREAT, you took only ONE OR TWO pieces of candy and you said THANK YOU as you left.  It's not like that these days.  Kids grabbing double fistfulls, nobody saying thank you.  A half-dozen kids didn't even wear a costume.  I felt mistreated.  To be honest, I'd rather have been scraping lint out of the dryer instead of sitting by the door waiting for a kid with no costume to interrupt my reading of Lea's Chemistry of Cement and Concrete with a virtual halloween candy hold-up. Thankfully I found a solution to the problem. Sometime during the evening I noticed my neighbors were on their front steps handing out candy and being social. It was a mild halloween evening so I decided to join them.  When one of my neighbors brought over a few Torpedo Pale Ales I forgot about the ungrateful trick-or-treaters and enjoyed the night. It's amazing what beer can do.  

I did find a fun list of things to do to trick-or-treaters.  It's something I might try next year.

Mountain Cabin DIY - Episode 8: Stone Walls

I have a long list of excuses to explain my 50 day absence from this blog.  Among my excuses are the Diplomat's birthday, the dog's birthday (Noodle turned 13 so it was a big event), our twelfth wedding anniversary, three cross-country races, a relay duathlon (which we won), soccer games twice per week and I celebrated my 40th birthday which in addition to bringing about a time of self-reflection I also attended a wonderful 3-day National Georgraphic Photo Workshop in DC (courtesy of my parents) and if that was not enough I had the pleasure of entering my fifth decade with my first case of jock itch which I learned should not be treated with the home-remedy known as "vinegar on the junk" not because vinegar does not cure jock itch but because I will never know since just one dose of vinegar down there and I was squealing like a castrated howler monkey. Cold milk didn't even ease the pain. So, without further babble, I'll direct you to some photos from the Nat Geo Photo Workshop or you can skip that and see a couple of snapshots below from a busy two months and also catch up on what we've been doing in WV lately which has mostly been building stone walls.  

The Diplomat's Birthday at the Melting Pot

 

Noodle had a McDonald's burger for her 13th birthday.

 

Here I am finishing the first leg of a cross-country duathlon.  My partner, Ho Nieh, is there to the left.  We won!

 

Wearing my new Detroit Lions jersey at my 40th birhday lunch at Famous Dave's BBQ.

Our first crop yield from our half-ass garden in WV.  Those are sweet potatoes. 
 

In September we started our second stone wall project.  Our first stone wall is not yet done but we decided to make a new garden (after the big fail, above) and it required a terrace and a retaining wall.  The Diplomat is sitting where the upper garden will be.  That's a 16 foot board we used as a form for the concrete base.

 

First we poured the foundation for the wall directly on bedrock.  We had to excavate about 3 feet of dirt to reach bedrock. The Bobcat was essential.

 

We buttered each rock with an inch or two of concrete and stacked them in place.  Some of the rocks weighed about 500 pounds!  Bobcat essential.

 

Nice sunrise view from our camper.

 

Noodle in the camper reflecting on her first 13 years.

 

Noodle gets her dinner warmed up when we are camping.

 

The Diplomat on a cool September evening in WV.

 

The stink bugs really started coming out the last few weeks.  The Diplomat uses the disgusting technique of dropping them in soapy water to kill them.  Her theory is based on the fact that the soapy water prevents them from flying and they drown, saving us from crushing the little stinkers and smelling them.

Mountain Cabin DIY - Episode 7: Summer Break.

Two steps forward, three steps back. That's the story with our West Virginia dream.  We were making real progress.  We had ample water in our camper by way of a 45 gallon transfer tank in the bed of my truck. This meant showers, something we sorely needed. Our new shed provided plenty of storage space: no more toting generators and chainsaws and tools 70 miles from our house. I even built a small deck so we could unwind and take in the view.  Hell, we had ourselves a happenin' little camp.  In fact, we were enjoying it so much we postponed all work for the summer.  Here's how the conversation went.  Me: "Let's put in some roads, a garden, hell, let's build a barn."  She:  "Let's take the summer off."  Me:  "Yeah, okay.  Umduh."  

Truthfully, she made a good call.  Summer was hot.  Hot as in the hottest July on record.  It was time to slow down and enjoy ourselves.  The elevation of our lot is 1700 feet offering some relief from July's nut-drenching heat so why not take it all in.  The cabin can wait.  As we sat on our deck that July afternoon with the sun at our back enjoying our partial view of the valley the Diplomat said, "We only have a partial view of the valley.  Cut down that tree."

That ended our summer break.

It had been a few years since I brought down a plump oak.  Things went smoothly at first, warming up with a slender young pine, a half-dead maple.  Trees were coming down, our view ever expanding.  Then I went face to face with that tree, as in the "Cut down that tree" tree.  It wasn't an especially big oak but the trunk had a nasty crook in it giving it a natural lean in the direction I didn't want it to go.  In theory, an experienced tree-feller can carefully control a tree-fall with a combination of skillful cutting and knowledge of tree-felling.  (FYI that's the first recorded instance of tree-fall being used three times in a sentence.)  Well I've got neither skill or knowledge so the long and short of this story is the tree went where it wanted to and not where it should have and on they way down the damn tree pinched my Stihl Farm Boss between the stump and tree.  When this happens there is no getting the chainsaw out.  What made matters worse was the that tree didn't fall over completely but got hung up on a nearby pine. It was suspended mid-fall at a 45 degree angle. I spent an hour trying recover my chainsaw via the hacksaw-hatchet dual wield method but it was not happening. I spent the evening disassembling my chainsaw so I could get the valuable parts to safety and then I was left to wait it out until Mother Nature brought it down three weeks later, probably as a result of a thunderstorm.  Now I have some rusty chainsaw parts. 

So is life out there. 

You'd think that would be the end of the demolition.

Well, no.  There's something that happens to your brain when you take a perfect, tidy little mountain retreat and chop down a couple of trees.  You no longer see it as a tidy mountain retreat but a work in progress.  It's possible you might start tearing shit up with your Bobcat. It's possible you might have to tap into the resources of your generous neighbor who no-shit-has-an-arc-welder-and-can-fix-anything.  Thanks, John.

Henceforth July is renamed Tear Shit Up Month and August Tear More Shit Up Month.  It's pretty messy out there. We've got stacks of downed trees, an unnecessary but new road, and there are hundreds of boulders scattered all over the place. It looks like the ruins of Gaddafi's compound. You know what that means?  Time for a new project. Out of nowhere we started building a stone wall.  God I friggin' love it out there. 

Root and stump removal 101.

 

Hell, I even put a chain on that tree to try to get it to fall in the right direction but no luck, fell right on our deck.

 

I was doing so poorly with the chainsaw the Diplomat took over.  Her run lasted, well, the course of that hack-job, above.

 

Ya gotta eat.

 

Mixing mortar for our first stone wall.

 

The Diplomat was the mason.  Cutest mason I've seen.  

 

The wall.  Quite fun but hard work.

 

Yes, ya gotta eat.  Cornsgood.

 

Meatsgoodtoo.

 

Mountain Cabin DIY - Episode 6: The Caged Tiger

Our poor little camper was getting overloaded. Not only was the camper our home-away-from-home, but it had also become our garage. We kept everything in there: lawn chairs, power tools, hydraulic fluid and a large stash of pistachios. And every time we showed up on the land for some R & R it was a half-hour of re-org before any fun. 
 
It was time for a storage shed. For two months I studied shed design guides. I considered various floor plans and several roof designs such as gable, gambrel and hip. When the time came to pick our final design I settled for the elegance of the 8 by 12 model sold by the Home Depot. It's not exactly a Home Depot model but a home-version of the overpriced Home Depot model. I call it Shed Model 001 Nonstandard Gable T1-11.   
 
Our collective building experience is this: a tiny 4 by 6 shed behind our townhouse and a 20 by 60 foot roof on a building in South Carolina (another story). Building the Shed Model 001 Nonstandard Gable T1-11 was definitely within our skill-base, however, as things go, we encountered a few hardships that 2 people with 1226 square feet of construction experience should have foreseen. Included in our lessons-learned is 1) bring a ladder, 2) use a level, 3) if you don't bring a latter or use a level then be sure to have a Bobcat, winch and chain.

Here's a photo summary of the project. Cost:$902, Man-hours: 72. Splinters: 12. Blisters 3. Strained-groins: 1 1/2. 

 

First, we had to clear the space. Go, Bobcat, go!

Then we loaded my Dodge Dakota not once, but twice, with 1500 pounds of the finest pre-cut lumber.

 

Wait!  We we need a gravel bed under our shed.  Quick, go get some...

 

The framing of our floor: 2 by 6's, pressure treated.

 

I don't know what you call 'em in home construction but I call them stringers, 2 by 6's spaced 18 inches on center.  We put pressure treated plywood on top for our floor.

 

The walls were standard 2 by 4 studs, 2 feet on center.

 

Another view of the walls. 

 

Next up was the roof.  This is when we realized we didn't have a ladder.  We used the Bobcat bucket like a cherry-picker. Quite fun. 

 

Now you can see our wood siding in place - it's what you call T1-11: plywood with groves to look like siding.  In financial terms: $35/sheet times 8 sheets. Ouch!

 

Here's where it got interesting. About the time we were ready to finish the shed, we realized that the shed twasn't square.  The only way we could get it square was to do what any desperate shed-builder would do: muscle the hell out of it.  We used the Bobcat to shove it straight.  Then we hooked up the chain hoist and tugged it this way and that.  The thing creaked under the stress but we were able to square it up and nail it in place quick enough to get it to hold.  Our friend Pete (who was visiting from Austria) nicknamed the shed the Caged Tiger.  The shed has so much potential energy that we're scared that if one nail pops the entire thing will go critical and create a black hole. 

 

Now for some paint. A bit of oil-based primer and then some water-based primer.  Not sure if they mix well but that's what happens when you grab the wrong stuff.

 

The roof was an experiment.  We splurged and put a metal roof on.  Great idea except for the 196 screws.  All installed from that position.  Anyone know a chiropractor?

 

 

Yeah, metal roof is sweet.  Pretty as a purple pony.

And there you have it. The Caged Tiger.  902 bucks and well worth it.  

 

MOUNTAIN CABIN DIY – EPISODE 5: Pimp my Bobcat and a New Gate

What is all the stuff in my truck?  A lot of fun, that's what.  

Enough with the mud!  Stuck twice.  Almost ten hours digging and pulling and pushing.  No fun.  I'm not blaming the Bobcat for our woes: the tires are worn, the conditions have been unusually wet, and our operator lacks some basic skills.  But if we are going to turn this untamed wilderness into a happy retreat, we need a Bobcat upgrade.    The Bobcat dealer told me the best bang-for-your-buck upgrade I could do was to add over-the-tire steel tracks onto my rubber tires.  Like tank tracks.  Yes, they exist.  Not only would it give me added "float" in muddy conditions, but tracks are purported to provide better traction when pushing  and loading and overall improved performance because the increase weight.  The dealer had me at tank.

Sold!

Uh, wait a sec.  Did you just say 3g for steel tracks?  Er.  Um.  No can do, Bucko.  Even if the Diplomat approved it, the cash flow just ain't gonna cut it.  My answer: Craigslist.

I'm a craigslist junkie.  I bought the Bobcat on craigslist.  I bought a reliable washer and dryer.  I have rented four properties, sold two cars, a camper, a generator and a chainsaw on craigslist.  Next up: steel tracks.

After a few weeks of searching I landed a sweet set of tracks off a contractor in Virginia.  Wilbur had the tracks sitting in his storage yard for 6 months.  I negotiated for a great price, got a good one and had the guy load them in the back of the Dakota.  According to the Youtube video tutorial I watched it takes 4 hours to put on steel tracks.  In three hours the Dip and I pimped the Bobcat into a veritable Abrams tank.  Arr!

The other big news is the installation of a driveway gate.  This was the Diplomat's project.  Her design: 12 foot aluminum gate supported by 6 x 6 timbers sunk in concrete.  This was a rewarding project.  It only took a couple of hours and looks great.  We dug the holes with Bobcat, of course, and had to contend with some big rocks and groundwater, but after trying a few different spots we had two 30-inch holes.  We filled the bottom of the holes with a few inches of gravel and then set the posts in place, filling around them with concrete.  Each post took about three, sixty pound bags of concrete.  After carefully leveling the posts and allowing the concrete to cure for a week, we attached the gate.  We're very proud!

Measuring the hole.

The first post in place.

The Diplomat leveling the post.

Our gate!

 

 

MOUNTAIN CABIN DIY – EPISODE 4: Henry French Drain

We're dealing with a lot of tough acreage out there in West Virginia.  Throw in the rainiest Spring in years and our mountain dream is a soupy mess.  All of our beautiful gravel roads are quicksand.  It is a bit frustrating to be planning wells, septic, electric, foundation and cabin and all you see are drainage problems. 

Have no fear, Bobcat his here.

That's right, when you buy a Bobcat you do everything with your Bobcat.  You dig holes.  You grade the driveway.  You carry firewood.  Hell, I've tried to scratch my back with it so applying that honking 46 HP hottie to a drainage problem was a no-brainer.  The only issue was that our Bobcat came equipped with a front end loader: not good for digging a drainage ditch. 

What we needed was a backhoe attachment.

Backhoe attachments.

Bobcats are designed to take dozens, if not hundreds of accessory attachments such as augers, grapples, rakes, and backhoes.  We needed the backhoe.  Big problemo though.  Bobcat backhoes cost about 10 grand shiny and new, 5 grand rusty and unreliable, both way too costly.  Answer: buy from an online supplier.

Yes, such a thing exists.  You can buy an 800 pound steel backhoe attachment through the internet.  They'll deliver it to your townhouse if you want.  I decided to do some checking first.  I asked skidsteersolutions.com to give me a few references.  I called three or four.  In no less than one hour of Bobcat war stories, Jeb from NC convinced me that a skidsteersolutions.com backhoe attachment was the way to go.  He also convinced me that baked beans were best served from an empty oil can.

Our drainage problem.

My geologist wife is not surprised by the magnitude of flooding on our land, but when I dig a three foot hole I don't expect a tsunami.  And that's exactly what happened; a spewing tidal wave.  I've come to learn that our land is riddled with something called seep springs.  Basically, somewhere up the mountain us rainwater falls from the sky and drains through a few feet of soil and then it hits an impermeable later of sandstone and flows horizontally until some unwitting dimwit digs a hole or builds a road and then suddenly all that water comes squirting out.  For the dimwit (me), a day of rain equal five days of running water.  Five days of running water equals stuck Bobcat.

The answer, of course, is improved drainage.  And drainage is all about the French.  I'm not talking about those French with twirly mustaches and BO; I'm talking about the French drain popularized by the American Henry French, which is basically a  porous pipe buried in a gravel.  The science is solid.  What you do is dig a ditch, bury a pipe and cover it in gravel.  Oh, you need an assistant (the Diplomat) to do the hard labor because the Bobcat cannot carry the pipe or rake the gravel.   Before you know it we had three French drains and the drainage problems had seriously improved.  Then I ventured to the fourth wet spot, the one with the really deep quicksand, and soon the Bobcat was bogged down to amidships.  Two hours after that we were sweaty and digging with shovels.  Four hours later we had the 5-ton chain hoist at work.  Six hours later and we were trying to figure out how to restart a diesel engine because the damn thing was out of gas.  By dark and miracle and backbreaking work we were somehow out of trouble and back on dry land.  

Two serious dig-outs in less than a month.  Next purchase is my next blog entry: Bobcat upgrade: steel tank tracks. 

Mountain Cabin DIY – Episode 3: Stuck Bobcat

Last you heard, our dream of a mountain cabin was a lone 20 foot camper and a recently purchased Bobcat skid steer stuck in the mud and pinned against a tree. 

Yes, we are a long-long way away from feet up and beers. We've got roads to build, wells to drill, septic systems to install, to say nothing of actually building the cabin.

The Bobcat was an important purchase, a necessary tool for just about every step of the way.  As the Diplomat put it, "That tonka truck ain't doin' us no good hugging that doggone tree." 

The Bobcat wasn't just stuck, it was stuck like gum in a Chinese finger trap.  There was the mud, the steep slope and the tree holding the Bobcat from tumbling down the hill.  The tree couldn't have been in a worse spot: right between the tires.  There was no going forward.  No going back.  Talk about a challenging days.  We tried everything: pulling it with my Dakota, digging out the tires, using a 5-ton chain fall.  Nothing worked.  I decided I had to cut the tree from between the two tires and there was little margin for error, one slip and I would slice the tire or hit the steel frame of the Bobcat.  About the time the Diplomat was dialing a wrecker to pull us out, I threaded that 4 HP Farm Boss between the tires. Clinical. I could have been a surgeon if surgeons used chainsaws.  We were on our way. 

Not. 

Cutting down that tree wasn't enough.  Without the tree holding the Bobcat back, it slid downhill, then bottomed out on that fresh cut tree stump. 

Back to square one. 

So what did I do?  More surgery.  I shaved off that stump with the chainsaw.  Somehow I was surprised that the Bobcat went farther downhill.  This went on for a couple of hours and before we knew it, the Bobcat slid nearly 20 feet and a half-dozen perfectly good trees were downed.

This might have gone on for days.  But the collective effort of our twenty fingers scratching our two heads and eventually the ground was dry.  That, together with the novel idea of pulling with the chain hoist while engaging the four wheel drive of the Bobcat and inch by inch we got it out.

High-fives. Hugs. Bobcat saved.

Weekend wasted.

Next up: Episode 4: Stuck Again.

 

NFL Lockout - What To Do About Fantasy Football

I am worried about this NFL strike.  Outside of World Cup Soccer which happens only once every four years, NFL football is the only sport I care about.  Many people assume I'm a big sports fan, probably because I participate in many sports and I wear sweatbands. (Actually, I don't wear sweatbands but I will the moment they are back in style.) 

I'm not a rabid NFL fan but I appreciate the sport and it's been with me my entire life.  I was a four-year-old Florida-boy when the Bucs lost every game of their inaugural season.  I remember seeing the Raiders beat the Redskins in my grandfather's hospital room as he recovered from open heart surgery.  And I remember sitting with my dad and brother watching Dan Marino and the Dolphins on our 27-inch Magnavox.  In all these years of enjoying the NFL I've never supported a single team. 

In 2011, things were going to change.  I decided to swear loyalty to a single team.  I had big plans to buy a knit cap with my team colors and root, root, root every Sunday.  But with the strike lingering, my big year is in jeopardy.

My Team

Choosing my team has been a long-time coming.  Starting in 2000 I began evaluating teams worthy of my loyalty.  I don't like the idea of jumping on the bandwagon so I considered teams that were not known winners, such as the Minnesota Vikings, the New York Jets and the Cleveland Browns.  In 2004, I seriously considered the New Orleans Saints for support.  The Saints had never won anything.  They were an underdog.  In 2005 Katrina hit and the city and stadium went to ruins.  The Saints felt so right.  But then we moved to Europe and I forgot about football and before I declared my loyalty to the Saints they went and won the damn Superbowl.  The Saints were tainted by success.

Enter 2011.  I'm watching the Superbowl.  For 11 years I've been searching for my team and this commercial comes on: it's the Eminem commercial about Motor City.  It's cool.  Cool on so many levels.  The Diplomat asks me if there is a team in Detroit and I say, yes.  She asks if they suck (a requirement) and I say yes, indeed.  There on the spot we decided that the Detroit Lions would be my team.  The Diplomat was so moved that she swore loyalty to the Lions also.  The Lions' fanbase doubled that day.

The Lions are irresistible.  They have been around since 1930 and have a long history of losing.  The Lions have never even been in a Superbowl and in 2008 the Lions lost all 16 games.  The Lions might be the worst team ever but they are my team and when the Lions surprise the world and win the Superbowl this year then I can stand proud and say my team won the big one. 

What am I saying?  If the NFL lockout continues and there is no season then my beloved Lions can't win their first Superbowl.  I might have to wait an entire year to celebrate with my team.  Is that fair?  Do I deserve this?    

Waiting for my Lions win the Superbowl is only part of my problem with the NFL lockout.  The other problem: What will I do about Fantasy Football?

In case you don't know, I love Fantasy Football.  And in case you don't know what fantasy football is, I'll explain: in Fantasy Football you manage a "fantasy team" made up of a list of real NFL players and you compete against friends who have their own list of players.  Think of it like this: each Sunday we compare how my list of players does versus your list of players.  If my players have a really good week and my running back scores lots of touchdowns and my kicker kicks five field goals and you happen to have a quarterback who throws three interceptions and running back who fumbles twice then I'll probably win.  It's that simple.

But without an NFL season, the real players won't play, so there can be no fantasy league.  I can't live without my Lions and without fantasy.  That's like living without the Diplomat's credit card and beer .  What am I to do?

I have an idea.  Fantasy Fantasy Football. 

Whoa!  Mind-blowing, isn't it?  Fantasy Fantasy Football does not need greedy owners or dog-killing NFL players.  Fantasy Fantasy Football only needs your imagination.  Imagine, in light of an NFL strike, my friends and I could make up our fantasy scores each week.  Brilliant, isn't it? 

Not really.  I can see what would happen.  Week one comes around and everyone says their score is infinity.  It would be a season of ties.  Damn, that doesn't work. 

How about this?  Why not have fantasy scabs to fill the role of NFL players.  Instead of my team being made up of NFL players like Peyton Manning, Adrian Peterson and Greg Jennings, why not sub-in college players into NFL roles?  For that matter, if we're talking fantasy Fantasy Football, then I could substitute my entire NFL line-up with baseball players and when my players hit a homerun, then it would be the equivalent of a touchdown.  Hell, I could use the cast of Glee for my fantasy fantasy team and every time the actors on my team sing I would score points.  Let's take it further.  We could use American Idol and every time Randy says dawg it's a field goal for me.  If Steven Tyler says something perverted, then you score.  Better yet, let's not use figures from American pop culture but let's use Middle Eastern countries.  Think about it.  We draft Middle Eastern countries.  Every country that rebels and overthrows a dictator during the NFL season scores as a touchdown.  That's it!  Now that is brilliant!  I'm working on my draft plan now.  I'd love to have Libya at quarterback, Bahrain and running back and Syria as my wide receiver.  With a team like that, a fantasy fantasy championship is almost certainly assured.  And it might take my mind off my poor Lions who have to wait until 2012 for a Superbowl. 

So who's in?

Mountain Cabin DIY – Episode 2: The Bobcat

The Goal:  build a mountain cabin in West Virginia, do-it-yourself style.

The Schedule:  none.

This is an update on our project to build a cabin in West Virginia.  To get you up to speed, check out my recent post, Gonna Build a Cabin in WV.  That means stop reading this and go to the link.

Great, welcome back and thanks for not bugging me about all the typos.  You now know we've got 20 mountain acres with a gravel road, a camper and a chainsaw.  These things do not make a cabin.  Not yet.  Our grand plan of building a cabin is to do it ourselves at our leisure.  And to serve this goal of doing it on our own time we require some level of comfort.  Unfortunately, a camper and chainsaw do not equal comfort.  We need water, sewer and electricity.  The details of these are not clear: Water well or cistern?  Where do we locate the septic system so we can use it now with the camper and later with the cabin?  As for electricity, do we tie into the grid or go off-grid?  These are all important questions but instead of answering these I bought a Bobcat skid steer. 

Seriously. 

It was necessary. 

100% necessary. 

We have 20 acres of rugged terrain.  We need to move rocks, take down trees, dig holes and stuff.  My experience with renting excavating equipment has been great.  I think Rentals Unlimited provided great equipment at a fair price, however, you can't beat the convenience of having a piece of equipment available 24/7 and with many businesses cutting back there is a surplus of used heavy equipment.  So, we took the plunge.  We bought a 2003, Bobcat 763 with 368 hours on it.  Bobcat says their engines are good for 6000 hours.  I don't know why you buy heavy equipment with hours and cars with miles but I did the math and if you drive a car 100,000 miles at 40 mph you wasted 2500 hours of your life sitting behind the wheel.  For comparison, my Bobcat is good for about 250,000 miles and it's only gone 15,000 miles.  Pretty damn good buy if I may say so.  

Getting the Bobcat to our land was a bit of a problem.  My 2007 Ford Ranger is rated at 5500 pounds towing and the bobcat is a hefty 5300 pounds.  You can't pull a Bobcat without the 2000 pound trailer so my Ranger was about 2000 pounds weak.  Thankfully we have friends who have the most badass A-Team van on the planet – a Ford E350 that can tug a whopping 8800 pounds.  Joel and Jenni were nice enough to drag our Bobcat all the way to WV. We decided to make a weekend out of it and packed grill-food and beers.  I'm really glad we had the grill-food and the beers because about 30 minutes after getting the Bobcat out there I promptly got it stuck against a tree.  No worries, we spent a cold, snowy, March evening drinking beers and cooking on an open fire.

Next up.  Getting the Bobcat unstuck.