Another week in review, and lets just get this out right at the start – there is no digging to report. I know! I just have to stop promising such exciting developments when there are uncertainties in life.

Why the delay? Well, we have a complicated situation here at the ranch as it pertains to our septic replacement, and one of the issues is that we don’t know exactly where the existing leach lines are located. Turns out they need to be found first.

And, as many homeowners probably know, you don’t just go digging big holes on your property all willy-nilly – you need to call those people that one calls before digging. You know, the ones with the catchy slogan about calling before you dig, I think it’s literally “call before you dig”.

So, there’s some stuff to do.  The septic engineering company we met with (things are actually progressing on that front) doesn’t do the work of figuring out where the existing leach lines are, but they can recommend a specialist – who might need to do some exploratory digging in the vicinity of the existing tank. The vicinity of the existing tank is also the exact same vicinity in which our trailer is parked…so we may be moving the trailer, at least temporarily.

(Also, it’s not a coincidence that the trailer is parked above the tank, since being near the tank facilitates the disposal of our waste water. There will be a lot to consider as we figure out how to manage the trailer move, if that is what needs to happen).

I am now beginning to realize that the digging of holes is not going to be the start of the process, but will actually represent a major milestone of progress.

In other news, the build-out of the office/kitty playground/hang out space in the barn is structurally complete:

The white square where Andy is standing is a small door for going between the hangout space and the rest of the barn (there is also a regular sized exterior door in the hangout space, but its a long walk around to get back into the main barn area, and the small door also works as a second means of egress, since we are all about not getting trapped in case of emergency). The entire panel where Andy is standing can also be removed, so large items can be brought in and out of the space.

Flooring in the hangout space – rubber gym mat material – pretty economical,easy to install, and can stand up to the barn environment.

Finished floor and TV on the wall, with satellite! Small sofa opposite the TV is not yet pictured.

In even greater progress, we have had our things moved out of storage and into the barn. It is going to be great to have access to some items that we can use immediately, and that we’ve been without since last January – but on the other hand, there is a lot of other stuff that we’re now looking at and wondering why we saved it. We will be going through boxes and doing more rounds of donating or discarding, as well as repacking items we do want to keep, but can’t use until we are ready to move into the house.

So much stuff!