Hey Everyone!
Not a ton to report (I pretty much told everything Saturday night).

Excavator is still broken 😦 . The parts are due today, and if they can get the links pressed together at the shop today they will work on it tomorrow. Otherwise it should be Wednesday.

So this week we did get something done! We got the percolation test done.  I had 3 test pits, Pit 1 was over by the driveway entrance and then Pit 2 and 3 were next to each other up on the ridge below the house location.  (pit 2 was testing 2′ down and pit 3 was test 4′ down).  Pit 1 failed! it didn’t move any water. So that area will not work for a septic system. Both pits 2 and 3 worked well. Pit 2 moved 1″ of water every 7.5 minutes and pit 3 moved 1″ of water every 13 minutes. I’ll try not to bore you, as percolation and septic systems are a world of their own, but know that if you get a rate under 1″ for 60 mins you get to do a conventional system (usually cheaper).  So our rates in pit 2 and pit 3 are very good.  A little better than they were expecting for the soil type (which could cause some confusion and possibly a problem?) 

So why is this all so important? County won’t let us build a house without a letter from the Health department saying that the land can have a septic system. Makes sense right? If you can’t get rid of the poo, you can’t have a house 🙂 I still haven’t heard from the health department but I believe we will get a “letter of feasibility” from them saying we can build on our lot. Which means this whole investment isn’t for nothing…. phew! And that letter is what we need to get our lot “subdivided” (which means made official in the county books after paying a bunch of money and fees) so that we can finally apply for a building permit. It’s quite the process! But luckily we are adding value along the way.
Last BIG risk in our path is the water well. Looking at about 60k to drill a 300 ft well, and if they don’t find water…… well… then we are out 60k and have to try again, if we want to pay and try again…. scary! I hear it’s like going to vegas 🙂 Only thing calming my fears is the fact that our neighbor is on the same rock structure and he found water… so hopefully we can tap into the same groundwater!

Hopefully I’m back in the excavator this weekend. I may do a half day friday and then all day Saturday. Planning on running the dump trailer and getting lots more dirt down off the ridge. 
Mark