Friday, July 11, 2008

CLOUD HOUSES GETS UTILITIES 2008-11-7

The access drive pushes up; the water and electrical lines are pushed under; the pad for the foundation pushes in.

Looking south from the house site, the temporary electrical panel and the red water spigot stick up on the left.

Here they are on the right,  as we look north at the foundation pad. All the debris in the pit is from the drill probe. It went down 30' until the GeoTec engineer said, "That'll do!" So now we know how deep our four piers must go.

Charlie, transfixed by the view out to sea, momentarily breaks from task of laying out strings for the pier locations.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

CLOUD HOUSE GETS SERIOUS

FINALLY, after 18 years of design, (with the last 5 years pursuing  permitting as well), ground was broken at the site near Otis, Oregon.

From the main road, an access road to the house site was cut in, which  also served as the landing zone for the BIG TREE. Sadly it was listing to port, directly towards the house site, and prudence said it best be removed before the house got in the way.



Too tall (175' or so) for my 35mm lens, so,  top and....
bottom.
The tree man, Kevin Zook, with tree climbing gear on, confers with Aaron (left) and Ken, our ace site clearing and excavating team.
Kevin climbed 3/4's of the way up, taking out some limbs as he went. There he tied a rope, which was strung to the back bumper of his truck. He decended to about the 2/3's point, and, as his son, Justin, applied tension on the rope, he topped it.
The rope was re-tied to the new top, Kevin came to the ground, and cut again.
Again Justin pulled on the rope...
and, slowly, gracefully, and right on target, down it came.
Kevin bucked up branches and the trunk,
Aaron moved pieces towards the road...
as he chatted on the phone.
The based measured 7.5 feet, and ring count went over 225. Could have started out about the same time the USA did.