Soooo.

Took the dogs out to the property and met up with the power engineer. 

He looked at where I want to put the pole - which is right there where the power lines are already running.  He said, ok, good we won't need to run a lot of line.  Great, how much do you figure this is going to cost? 

$4,000.  Four thousand dollars?!!!  I mean, I didn't give him any lip or anything, but that was a much higher price tag than what I anticipated.  I was guessing, of course, but I figured around $2,000 to $2,500.  

But what can I do?  I can't have a park without power.  I really can't do anything out there, even if just on a personal level, without power so I just agreed to it. He said I would probably cost less than that, his estimate was on the higher end.  Whatever it ends up being, the power company will give a credit to my account to make up any difference. 

I have no idea when they are going to install it, he said he was going to go work up a work order and they will get it done.  It will include a power line running down the pole and into a pedestal right there at the pole. Shrugging shoulders, moving on with this.  Whatever the costs are, I just have to pay it. If it means I run into a road block getting other stuff done, it is what it is.  

He also said I didn't have to pay that up front, I could make payments for up to 60 months.  That was a bit of relief, I won't have to dig into my savings just to get the pole installed.  He figured a minimum payment of $150 per month plus whatever the electric bill for any give month is. I opted for that, whatever I can do to save as much of my working capital as I can? Let's do that.

Next, I called the water install guy and started discussing with him about clearing the land.  He said it costs the same amount to move the equipment in whether it's an acre or 50 acres.  What he was alluding to was the idea that you may be better off just getting the entire 7 acres cleared right off the bat.  Yes, but how much money is that going to cost? 

I don't mince words when it comes to the cost, I want/need to know that upfront.  He finally said look Ben, I never walked past the front of the property.  I need to drive on back in there and walk the woods and see what I'm getting into before I can give you a price.  Fair enough.  I'm going to guess right up front that he's gong to quote me 15 grand to do all 7 acres and I'm probably just going to shrug my shoulders and say fine, let's get it done.  And I'll want a quote on a 1 acre pond dug out while we're at it. 

He doesn't want to use a dozer, his experience - and mine for that matter in removing those trees - is that those small trees don't just fold over in a solid line, they twist and bend and they're hard to get out with a dozer, they prefer to use a trackhoe to pull them out of the ground.

The last guy that came out to give me a quote said the same thing.  So I am going move forward under the idea that anyone that wants to come out and do this project is either going to have to pull the trees out with a trackhoe or they are going to have to mulch them down with a large Bobcat style machine that has an attachment on the front of it.

Whatever the case, I'm going to have this guy give me a quote for the pond as well.  I'll start small, no more than an acre and see what I can get it done for.  He will already have the equipment out there.....or even a smaller pond, whatever I can get done without spending a fortune, a half acre pond is better than nothing.  

It dawned on my today that the surveyor has yet to come out or even call me back. He was supposed to have already been out there, now I'm going to have to find his number and call him and ask if he's still going to do it or not. 

And I never heard back from the septic installer I called, they said they would call back the next day - that's obviously not happened yet.  Septic can't be installed - or water or electric for that matter - until the land is cleared.  

The funny thing about this land clearing business? A neighbor told me that after the trees were harvested off of the front portion of my land, the owner had a hay field going.  That means at one point the entire lot had been cleared with no trees or underbrush at all.  Oh how I wish that were still the case at this point, I would have nothing but some leveling to do.  Just plant more trees and be done with it.

Anyway, he's not going to call me back for a couple of weeks. Everyone is busy right now.  Nice that they are staying busy in a rather rancid economy, everyone I know is broke right now.  When I say broke, I mean living paycheck to paycheck type stuff. Been there, done that, hated it.  But, even in the worst economy there are still plenty of people around that have money.  The ole' rich get richer and poor - going broke type of thing.  

So, moving along at a snail's pace tbh - but I sort of expected that.  You can only do so much at once.  There is nothing I can do further until I have the driveway cleared and the lots cleared out and hopefully leveled a bit.  Well, I could probably have the septic installed since I want it in the rear/back western corner of the property, land clearing probably won't affect that installation.  

Well, here's a bit of good news: The realtor just stopped by, she said the check for me would be around $1,500.  That's $500 more than I expected.  She originally told me my profit would be around $900. 

That could pay my way to AZ and back if I decide to go.  I have to decide today, the funeral is tomorrow and no, I haven't made any reservations.  I wasn't sure if I was going to go or not.  I dunno yet, tbh, I've found ok airfares it's just a lot of traveling in the span of 2 days and then probably back to work the next morning after I get back.....I'm feeling pretty exhausted right now with all of the late nights on my last trip.....

The only other thing of note going on is the friend of the family that was in a bad accident yesterday. He's a volunteer firefighter with the county, he was traveling 50mph somewhere with his lights on.  He has a full set of emergency lights that are highly visible from all sides - yet the person that ran into him said they didn't see him. His pickup was totaled and it was reported he had to be extricated with the jaws of life to pry open the door to get him out.  He survived the ordeal and is already at home recovering.  It put on quite the scare yesterday for everyone, wondering what his condition was.  He already has pre-existing conditions tho, I suspect this will make those worse. 

Anyway, that's enough for now, I have more phone calls to make.  If this process is going to be at a snail's pace, at least make sure the snail is moving even if - very slooooooooooowly.  

G'day.