Building/moving to a new home – day 91

We got POWAH!! We got Internet!!

Powah121905From this point forward we should be able to make rapid progress in establishing a viable home and business environment in Floyd, VA.

These drab enclosures mark a major transition in our lives. The pad-mounted transformer on the left supplies us with 400 amps of 120/240 volt power for home and workshop. The slim green box houses the telephone connection that brings us telephone and high-speed Internet service. Even though our house is out in the country, our utilities come in through underground cables.

No longer are we refugees stranded in the awful gulf between homes. Thanks to the hospitality of Doug and Amy Thompson, we have been able to stay in communication with family and friends, but there is no substitute for having our own base of operations.

When we arrived at the homesite yesterday, a contractor was already filling in the trench that brought the power and phone cables to the nearly completed workshop. An hour later, he had installed the meter and we were good to go as far as electrical power is concerned. I was pleased to see that the power cables were 3/4 inch in diameter, as the run from the transformer is about 200 feet.

The telephone company still needs to do its peculiar magic before we can log onto the Internet, but that too should be handled in the next few days.

Unlike some family and friends who are content to live "off the grid" as a solution to finding a satisfying lifestyle, I feel that we live in a connected world and a satisfying lifestyle has to involve involve open communication.

There is incredible power available to those who are in a position to communicate with those who live and work elsewhere. Communication is the first step in harnessing the power of relationships and mutual efforts. Since communication requires power, the appearance of these two green boxes on our property signals the beginning of a new cycle of communication and opportunity.

More to come

We are still battling glare ice on our street and on our driveway. I had scattered dirt on the icy snow so I could walk without falling, but this did not handle the entire driveway.

The delivery of our new refrigerator and stove was stymied when the delivery truck could not negotiate the final 200 feet to the house.

The well-drilling contractor is unable to put in the trench which will bring a water line to the house.

The heating company will not be able to deliver our new wood stove until there is a safe way to carry the 420 pound stove from thwe truck to the house.

Hopefully, we will have a solution to this problem today. Our excavating contractor will spread gravel on the driveway until we have more stable access to house and workshop. This is our immediate hurdle to overcome, as we must have water, heat, and an operational kitchen.

When we have these handled, we will tackle floor coverings, unpacking Smart vaults and furnishing the house.

A question for readers

This series of posts has developed a life of its own and I would like to continue developing the theme through the establishment of a fully working house and workshop environment. On the other hand, there are business, aging, and post-corporate issues that I enjoy writing about and these get short shrift with the amount of attention I put on the new house cycle.

I am concerned that so much writing about building a new home will be a distraction for those who are looking for more philosophical and analytical articles about life and work.

My question for you is: Should the house articles be spun off into a related blog, which would have a link from this site, or should I leave them as part of this increasingly eclectic site?

I know that readers have less and less time to read, so my instinct is to leave everything in one convenient place and let readers decide whether today’s offering is worth spending time on.

Let me know your thoughts!

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