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The Journey Begins

Hello all, and thank you for joining me on this great adventure through the heartlands of Hawaii as I attempt to single-handedly build a home for me and my family. This will be a journey of trials and tribulations that will garuntee a rollercoaster of emotions. So sit back, relax, and prepair yourself as we embark on this epic quest together. 

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THE BACKSTORY

        About a year ago my wife and I decided it was time to buy a home. We started asking around to several real estate agents. The agents showed us dozens of homes, both large and small. Most of the homes were very, very old. This seems to be the case for the specific area of Pennsylvania where we currently reside. Neither she nor I saw anything that really stood out for us. After a while, we started thinking, “what if we just buy the land and build our own home?” We were really into the whole tiny home scene at the time and we both knew this was the direction we wanted to go. So, I set off to find us the perfect piece of land. But, little did I know, Continue reading “The Journey Begins”

Day 1

 

YouTube link: Day 1 Land Assessment

Nov. 6, 2017
Woke up at 7am
I started off the day by going to the site for the first time. I checked things out and got a good assessment of what needs to be done. During my visit, I  Facetime’d with the wife, so she could see the field as well.

Once we were done I went over to the seaside for a bit to check things out.

Then I headed into town and had Jack in the Box for Breakfast, for the first time in about 5 years. I know this sounds tacky since I am away from home and should explore the local cuisine, but to me, this was a treat. They do not have Jack in the Crack where I am currently living, so I felt this was a long time coming. Once I indulged my inner child, Continue reading “Day 1”

Day 2

 

YouTube link: Day 2 Planning and Prepping

Nov. 7, 2017
Woke up at 7:00am
Got up early to take a quick shower and ate some cereal for breakfast. Also, I managed to make some coffee from the grocery store purchases from the night before. The one provided by the Airbnb was not exactly… good? Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the effort! Continue reading “Day 2”

Day 3

YouTube link: Day 3 Making Progress

Nov. 8, 2017
Woke up at 8am
I made it to the land around 9:12 am today and started clearing some more brush. About two hours into the work my tool broke on some downed branches, and I realized that I would definitely need a chainsaw in order to finish clearing the land. Continue reading “Day 3”

Day 4

YouTube link: Day 4 Obstacles and Progress

Nov. 9, 2017
Woke up at 8:00am
I went down to the site to continue clearing the lot today. It seems things are going a bit easier with the chainsaw, but I am still having problems with the vines. They are catching in the gears and binding up the saw. I have tried using a sickle, and it seems to do the trick, but I can only cut so many at a time. Continue reading “Day 4”

Day 5

Nov. 10, 2017
Woke up at 7:00am
Ended up having to get up and plug the batteries in this morning, as I forgot to do so last night. :/ It just meant I would get a bit of a later start, but due to the weather, that was going to happen anyway(Crisis adverted).

I took this time to go and grab some hedge shears to use on the vines that were clogging up the chainsaw. They ended up working out pretty well, but still no match for the multiple logs laying on the ground beneath the brush.

 

After some very tiring ax work, I managed to clear a good majority of the logs, but I am still nowhere near where I would like to be at this point. I did, however, manage to meet the neighbors Chris and Erin. They are both nice people. Each one stopped by at different times unaware that the other had come by. The main focus of their visit was to make sure I was not just some random squatter Continue reading “Day 5”

Day 6

Nov. 11, 2017
Woke up at 8am
Today was a very rainy day. I was not able to go out to the land and get anything done. So I finished catching up on paperwork and researched some items for ordering online. Managed to pick up this little beauty from Bestbuy on sale.

Mini fridge

Hope it will work well with the solar panels, and not eat up too much energy. I guess we will see.

Once this was finished I went out to go watch the new Thor movie. All in all, it was not a bad film. Had the typical Marvel explosions and action scenes fans have grown accustomed to over the years. Most of the films seem to be just setting up for the next one. I’m no movie critic, but it seems that they are starting to get a bit repetitive. After the movies, I went over to home depot to price some more items before returning back home for a nice relaxing day off.

Day 7

Nov. 12, 2017
Woke up at 6:30am
Went to the site a little early today to get a nice head start since I was not able to do anything the day before. I started out just the same as always, and Hank decided to join me and bring along his weed eater. After a while, we realized that we would need a bigger chainsaw, so we went to Home Depot and I got a larger one. After this, we came back to the property and got a whole lot of trees cut down. We even managed to take down a few large ones as well.

 

 

YouTube link: Day 7 Cutting and Clearing

But, unfortunately, I had to leave to take back the rental car and pick up the new rental van.  This proved to be a right pain in the neck as the guy Monty was not even on the island, Continue reading “Day 7”

Day 8

Nov. 13, 2017
Woke up at 8:30am
Today was spent as a much-needed catch-up day. I finally finished typing up all the receipts. Then headed into town to do my laundry.
There is a good place nearby in Keaau called Suds and Duds. Got everything washed and dried, including sheets and towels.

Then headed to the gas station to put some air in the tires and add some coolant to the radiator. It seems this lemon-of-a-rental has been through the ringer and back. There is a leak in the radiator and therefore it overheats. My only concern is the lack of any coolant on the ground below the van. There seems to be a good amount of oil leaking as well, but no coolant. This may become a bit of an issue down the road. Continue reading “Day 8”

Day 9

Nov. 14, 2017
Woke up around6:30am

I woke up today to the sound of rain and decided to rest a bit more and wait a few hours before heading out. The rain cleared around noon and I headed directly to the lot. After about an hour and a half, my chainsaw chain got snagged and broke so I had to go out and buy a new one.

While I was out Hank called to tell me(not ask) that I needed help today and insisted that he took off work just to help me out and this would be the last day he can offer his help for a while. I did not ask for his assistance nor asked him to take the day off for me. We made a deal earlier in the week that if I needed help I would pay Continue reading “Day 9”