Good News!

After several weeks of submitting "final" inspections & reports on the wetland impact mitigation area planting to the county, today they finally signed off on it! There had been some questions relating to a lack of proof that all the trees & shrubs had been planted (the reciepts don't cut it because, you know, maybe we just hid some of them behind the house or tossed them in the swamp or something) so we had to submit a map showing where each was planted, and Katrina (our extremely patient wetland specialist) had to sign an affidavit that all the plants were really and truly in the ground.

I'm not totally sure why this was necessary, since they're still going to monitor us for the next 5 years to make sure everything survives and meets all the performance standards anyway. Even if we had tried to cut some corners by not planting some things this fall, we'd just have to replace them next year. I know enough about dealing with bureaucrats though not to question why they need such-and-such documentation... you just have to give it to them. Cheerfully. And then you wait...

In any case, it's all done now, and the paperwork is in the mail that I can take to the bank to get most of our guarantee money released. We can't have it all back, because part of it is ear-marked to pay for the next 5 years worth of monitoring, one year at a time. (You didn't think they'd just monitor us for free, did you?)

Anyway, Yay!!

Fence Finished

On Saturday Cary and I finished building the rest of the fence around the mitigation planting area. It was a big job. Cary dug all the holes but one (Ralphie Wiggins voice: I'm helping!), most of which promptly filled with water. I mean, you could actually see the water rising up from the bottoms and running down the sides of the fresh-dug holes. In a couple of instances, we hit air pockets (or somehting) which bubbled and popped and sputterd, presumably as the previously trapped air or gas was replaced by water. It was a pretty wierd thing.
Anyway, here's the finished fence. Remarkably straight and level-looking, if I do say so myself.
Now we just have to decide whether we want to build another fence down the west side of the driveway, or plant a row of shrubberies instead. What would you do, internet?

Holy Mitigation Party, Batman!

Saturday the weather cleared as promised, and the work party was a resounding success! We got more done than I had dared to hope for, and had a pretty good time doing it. It sure makes a difference when you have a large, willing crew of hardworking folks for a task like this. Here's a big THANKYOU to all of you who helped pull off this huge, muddy task. And now, on with the pictures!

Here's what we started with in the morning, all the holes which we dug out on Wednesday with their color-coded stakes ready for planting:
The first wheelbarrow load of freshly dug wild salmonberry plants. Before the septic mound was installed last spring, we rescued a large number of the native salmonberries which were growing where the mound was to go. They spent the summer heeled-in under a hemlock tree and then yesterday we re-dug them and moved them to the mitigation area. Some of them didn't make it through the summer (we didn't even water them), but we were able to find 50 of them in good enough shape to make the second move on Saturday. We gave them some extra compost and I hope they'll thrive in their new spot. They're tough little plants, so they should do fine.
Dave wrangles a salmonberry into a planting hole. These plants are much larger than nursery stock would be, but that just means more berries sooner!
Nick and I teamed up to plant some salmonberries. Some of the holes were, um, excessivly deep (damn that inexperienced & inconsistant backhoe operator, anyhow!), and required quite a bit of fill. Also, they were full of water. It took one person to hold up the plant, while the other shoveled compost into the water until it would stand up on its own.
Cary loads up another wheelbarrow with compost...

Bo takes on the rosa pisocarpus:
Nick gets started on the bark mulch placement. We not only had to clear a 2' circle around each plant (we flipped the sod over) but we also had to apply a 4" thick mulch over that area to further inhibit competition from the field grass.
Part of the group in action (L-R: Reimar, Nick, Bo, Cary, Charlotte. Anita and Chris managed to thoroughly dodge the camera but worked hard all the same.)
Charlotte not only wields a mean shovel, she looks good doing it!
Reimar was movin' pretty fast, but I managed to get a picture of him during a lull in the action:
Nick, Cary and Bo discuss the finer points of fence building:
I actually had to pull the plug on the fence building at about 6 pm, because Cary and Nick were out in the field working on it after dark in the rain with only the headlights from my car to go by. They got it around the corner though, and we'll be able to finish it up next weekend. (We came back on Sunday and took these pictures of what we'd accomplished.)
Here's a view of the finished mitigation planting, taken from the upstairs bedroom window. Looks pretty professional, doesn't it? The wood in the foreground is the fenceposts and rails, all laid out and ready to install.
There is just a little more to do, we have to install some "woody debris" (aka logs), finish the fence, and plant a few more shrubs along the west side of the driveway. Then we can call the county and arrange for them to come and inspect everything "as-built", and hopefully they'll sign off on it without any trouble! Then we can get out money back (we had to deposit nearly $3500 in a special account as a sort of guarantee that this work would get done) and just let the plants do their thing. They'll keep monitoring it (and us) for 5 years to make sure that the plants all grow big and happy in their newly restored wetland buffer.

It's so nice to have the lion's share of this work out of the way. This had been causing me a huge amount of stress which is now gone. Once again, a big heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped! It sure is nice to have friends and family willing to come together like this. :) And for those of you who weren't able to make it this weekend, don't worry - we'll have more work parties in the future!

Saturday Forcast

Highs 47F/8C, Lows 40F/4C. Overcast with rain showers at times. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch. Muddy, with occasional hot chocolate breaks. Midday pizza expected, followed by evening beers.

Currently, it is raining outside my office window. However, this is not the same kind of record-flood inducing monsoon rains that we had last weekend. It's really just your regular, run-of-the-mill, wet fall day in coastal Washington kind of rain. And it's forcasted to lighten up to mere showers tomorrow.

So, if you're planning to come help with the planting tomorrow, bundle up in your woolies and your rain gear. Waterproof boots will be nice to have. Maybe bring a dry change of clothes for the ride home. But DO come. We'll be there!

110 holes dug ~ whew!

Over the last two days Cary and I really rocked the mitigation-planting-preparation. The weather cooperated too, it cleared up tuesday afternoon and remained clear all day yesterday, although that meant that the temperature dropped quite a bit. The ground was plenty wet, but nothing we couldn't handle, as it turned out. All in all, we

• got the bark mulch and compost delivered
  
• covered the piles of mulch and compost with tarps borrowed from Dave (thanks!)
  
• assembled the two shiny new wheelbarrows we bought (one regular size and one 8 cu. ft. two-wheeler - yeah, baby)
  
• got new handles for the broken shovels and post-hole digger & repaired them
  
• picked up plants from the nursery
  
• counted and flagged plants to be dug up from the property
  
• went to fence dealer and ordered cedar rails & posts
  
• got the tractor delivered, and dug all 110 planting holes
  
• graded out that pot-hole at the driveway junction
  
• fueled and cleaned the tractor, so it's ready for pick up
  
• staked & color coded all the holes so we'll know what to plant where for proper spacing
  
• transplanted the aspens

We worked from morning to dark both days, and forgot to take any pictures! D'oh. I guess the feeling of accomplishment is enough, we don't need graphic evidence of all the work we did. It feels really good to have so much done, although there is still a lot of work to go.

Tomorrow Cary is going to sharpen all the shovels with Dave's grinder and go out and pick up the fencing materials in Dave's truck and deliver them out to the property. (Thanks again, Dave!)

On Saturday, hopefully we'll have lots of help from friends & family (hint hint) and be able to plant the other 110 plants (since Cary already did the 5 aspens) get them all mulched, and even start building the fence. It'll be fun. Pizza and beer (or hot chocolate) for everyone who shows up to work, natch. Hopefully the weather will hold clear like this, or at least not rain hard. We're northwesterners - if we called off our plans because of a little rain, we'd never get anything done. :)

In other house news, the measurements for the laminate were taken, and all the cork flooring was delivered. Steve and Jack and Mark came out yesterday afternoon with a bunch of tools and Steve got started on the trim. He said he was going to work until 1 or 2 in the morning! I told him that he certainly didn't have to work that late on my account, but he likes doing trim and he likes staying up late, so it suits him. I guess now that the heat and the lights are on, there's no need to stick to daylight hours, at least for interior work. Today they were going to be hanging the interior doors, and probably starting on the flooring. Maybe I'll have some pictures for you tomorrow...

Muddy days ahead...

Tomorrow and Wednesday Cary and I are going to begin the mitigation planting. Torrential monsoon downpours are expected. Unfortunately, I'm not kidding - a major storm system is moving through the northwest right now. We've gotten several inches of rain over the last few days and all the rivers are at flood stage, several of my co-workers and the hospital are getting ready to evacuate. At some points on Saturday it was raining so hard I had to just stop what I was doing (helping friends move - nice day for it!) and wonder how that much water got up in the air in the first place. I mean, I know how precipitation works and all, but c'mon - it was like standing under a thousand garden hoses all going at full blast. That can't just be from water vapor cooling and condensing in the upper atmosphere. It's obviously the work of rain gnomes.

So why, you might ask, are we going to start planting during this epic rainstorm? Because the equipment's been rented, the mulch delivery is scheduled, the plants are in at the nurseries and we've already arranged the time off work. Come hell or high water, we're going to get this project started. Also we're completely loony.

There won't be any updates for the next couple days, because I don't have access to a computer when I don't come to work. I'll be back on Thursday with a report of all the wet, muddy fun, and maybe a picture or two. There might also be some inside-the-house progress to report on... I hear talk of flooring!

Weekend Report

Actually had a relatively laid back weekend, which was really nice. Cary and I staked out the area for the wetland mitigation planting, which, if we did the math right, came out to 5355 square feet, just over the required 5349. We made it easy for ourselves by staking out a big rectangle 40' x 100' and then tacking right-triangles onto each end to taper it back into the existing vegetated areas. It's been a long time since either of us had to do much geometry, but I think we did pretty good.

Now we need to see what we can do about the sod. We have to plant 115 native plants, mostly shrubs, in what is currently a grassy field. We're supposed to dig the sod away from each plant about 2 feet. It's a little daunting to think of digging 115 2' holes through tough sod by hand, so we're trying to think of alternatives. We also don't have that much time anymore, since the house is running ahead of schedule we need to get started on the mitigation.

The whole mitigation project is a "custom requirement" on our building permit, it has to be installed and inspected (and pass!) before our final inspection can be done. Which means we can't move into the house until it's all done, including the stupid fence.

Have I mentioned the stupid fence before? No? well, in a nutshell, we have to build a split-rail fence that goes down one side of the driveway, loops around the back of the house, and then goes back up the other side of the driveway. Picture a split-rail condom keeping the wetland safe from, um, something. Why did I ever agree to build such a stupid fence? Basically, because I was really, really, really, really tired of the permitting process, and giving them anything short of my left arm seemed like a good deal at the time.

Second thoughts have been had.