Kennedy’s Little House in the Big Woods

In early November, they finally started laying the foundation starting with the footer. Fortunately, we got some nice days in a row which gave them the opportunity to pour. We're going for 10' walls in the basement. Here's Austin at 6' 5" standing next to one not long after the forms went up. We've been so blessed by the many weekends Austin's met us up at the property to help with various parts of the project. The week before Christmas they began pouring the walls to the foundation. Finally, we got our finished foundation walls completed! This is the main part of the house. And this perspective is from the side of the garage looking out to our view.

 In preparation for the cold, we had to construct skirting for the RV. First was the framing... Then the insulation all the way around.

  We had a giant, 25' x 15' granite rock that stood in the way of getting our foundation in so we had to blast with dynamite. We thought it was going to be a giant, spectacular blast. As you can see, it wasn't quite what we expected. Here are some of the rocks they pulled out after it was blasted. Some look like could easily come loose and roll into our RV! Here's the same area smoothed out by the excavator.

Jordan flew up from Ft. Worth over Labor Day weekend to join Austin, Lee, Laura and Bob at the property clearing trees and branches! We made a lot of progress but still have a ways to go before they're all cut up and ready for firewood.

In early fall we got two critical pieces on our property. The first was electricity so we could have power to our RV and for later when the house is complete.  We also got the septic installed which has been beneficial for other reasons... Here's our completed septic system hooked up to the RV. Hillbilly? Yes!

Meet our neighbors! We set up a trail cam on one of the trees outside our RV, both for security and out of interest. These are some of the furry critters who have visited our homestead.  

 Austin and Lee, Laura's dad, have joined us several times at the property. This is one of the huge piles of trees we've been de-limbing and cutting into logs. We purchased an ATV and cart for working around the property, mostly clearing trees. It's also been a lot of fun! Our first of two work days Lee and Austin have joined us for. We've taken advantage of the excavated area to set up target practice with our bows and arrows. Austin is on the left and his girlfriend, Jenna, is on the right.