New River Gorge Bridge, West Virginia

On the weekend of November 18th we did a quick vacation get-away to West Virginia to attend a wedding of one of Tina's cousin (congratulations Stacy).  We took a side-trip down to southern West Virginia on Sunday down to see the New River Gorge Bridge.  When built in 1977 it was the worlds largest biggest arch bridge.

A Beautiful Lady and a Beautiful Bridge

It's about 800 feet from the river to the bottom of the bridge.  That's almost as high as the Eiffel Tower is in Paris.

Long Ways Down to the River

Interestingly this river flows NORTH all the way from North Carolin, into Virginia, and through West Virginia before meeting up with the Ohio River.  I had always heard that the St. Johns river down here in Florida was the only river in North America to flow north, but visiting the New River introduced me to another.

We were visiting West Virginia shortly after Super Storm Sandy blew through NY and NJ and dumped an early snow storm onto WV.  There was a lot of evidence of wind and early snow damage to tree's, as witnessed by this twisted/fallen tree trunk.

Twisted/Fallen Tree

The river gorge was developed in the late 1800's through the mid-1950's with a railroad track and numerous coal mines along it's length.  Pictures from that period were rather sad including numerous floods and a ton of land pollution, but they've done a good job of cleaning it up and turning it over to the national park system.  Unfortunately we didn't have time to explore the numerous hiking paths around the area, but it gives us something else to do in the future.

Looking Up At the Bottom Of The Bridge

The Ongoing Battle of the Pool

Progress is slow ... and even slower sometimes ... but it does occasionally happen.  The sign here was originally posted out front of our house but I removed it as my own small little protest over how slow things were going.  I was going to avoid putting it in any pics I posted here but I figured given how much I've posted here about the slow progress ... wellllllll ... it's probably worthwhile letting everybody know who's this slow!  :)  If anybody cares to, you can call the company and complain about how they never make a schedule.  Tina and I do so about 3 times a week.

Pool Plumbed and Back-filled

You can see the 2nd floor addition going on at our neighbors house.  Between the 2 of us we have succeeded in making quite a mess of the neighborhood.

Filling-up For a Thanksgiving Swim

Ready for a Bonfire in the Shallow End

Dirt Mound Slowly Going Down

Yayyyyy!!! We've been SHOT!

Having waited patiently (and NOT so patiently at times) since mid-September, we finally progressed to the point of getting the pool shot with gunite.  It's been a rather frustrating wait, particularly since the backyards still a HUGE mess and we've been without any power to the back garage which also contains the sprinkler system.  Fortunately the weathers been getting cooler and a calm little storm named Sandy dropped a fair amount of rain on us, so the lawns holding in there pretty well.  Errrr ... wellllll ... at least the parts that not's covered with dirt right now seems to be doing ok.

The crew doing the shoot actually consisted of 5 workers and, of course, the always present supervisor.

In the Midst of the Shoot

 Three full-time pumps running to keep the water out of the hole ... adding even more of a mess to our already flooded backyard.

Our Lovely Backyard

 Two trucks running full time.  The front one holds and mixes the gunite while the back one has the pumps and hoses to shoot it onto the structure.

The Gunite Equipment

 And ... FINALLY ... a fully shot pool.  This is looking at the side away from the house.  The center portion at the back is the fountain area which includes 3 overflow water flows into the main pool.   On either side of that are raised rock garden areas which will have fire pits in them.

The Final Product

Looking back towards the deep-end with the house on the left.  The perimeter-overflow gutter is formed out of 2x6's which will be removed once the coping is installed.   By this time we were back down to 1 pump running which quickly allows the water to flow back in.  It's not quite ready for swimming yet.

The Deep End Already Filling Back In

So at least we made it this far.  At this rate of progress, we might have this project done by next summer.

...

Or maybe not! 

Until Next Time

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

Still trying to catch up some.  After we left Kaila's house :), we spent the better part of the day driving down to Marco Island where we stayed at the Hilton.   Tina and I like to travel during September because it's generally a LOT less crowded.  Well, it ends up Marco Island is so less crowded in September that somewhere around 80% of the local restaurants close down for the entire month and let the employees have a vacation.  We found enough places to keep us from starving and had a great time nonetheless.

On Wednesday while we were down there we drove up to a place 20 miles outside of Naples called Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.  The boardwalk there takes you on a 2.5 mile journey through one of the most beautiful cypress swamp in the state.  Being September it was rather hot, but we're both pretty used to that.

The Entrance to the Sanctuary

The Border of the Cypress Swamp

About 15 minutes into our walk the rather large Barred Owl you see in the middle of this next pic came swooping down at me and flew about 5 feet from my head.  I'm not sure who spooked who more.  After he was a safe distance away, he was fine with me taking pics of him.

Barred Owl

Even with it being the middle of the day, we still managed to find one good sized alligator sunning out.  When you're in the middle of a swamp like that it's hard to find creatures amidst all the plants and trees, but at least we found one.

A 10 to 12 Foot Alligator (Center of Pic)

This second alligator was easier to find as he/she was only a couple feet off the boardwalk.  Being only 10 inches long, he didn't pose much of a threat ... just yet. 

A Cute Little 10 Inch Alligator

And then of course ... saving the best one for last.

 

The Best Looking Creature in the Swamp

We'll get back to posting some house pics here shortly ... if Tina ever manages to get our pool contractor going. 

A Visit with Kalia

Tina and I took a short vacation to celebrate our 26th anniversary on Sept. 27th, but on the way we stopped by to visit our youngest granddaughter Kalia.  While we were enjoying our visit with her, we also spent a little bit of time catching up with her parents, Kara and Chris.  :)  I didn't take a whole lot of pics there, but then you don't need to see too many pics to know that little miss Kalia is still adorable.

Get outta the way world.  I'm on a mission!

You sure you know how to do this, Mommy?

Yayyyy ... Grandma knows how to do it!!!

So thank goodness Grandma and I were there to help Kalia down the slide. :)  She gets bored sometimes having people push her around in the stroller, so she takes over and pushes the stroller herself.

Comeon Mommy!  You're holding me back!!!

Why's Grandpa taking pics?  Don't all kids push their own stroller?

 Anyway, we had a great visit and then followed that up with a week down in Marco Island.  Tha part will wait for another post.

Weeks 5 and 6 - Slow Going

The last couple of weeks have been relatively slow.  We're beginning to think we could dig and pour the darn pool ourselves and get it done quicker.  Meanwhile the final design work on the balcony and new roof-line continue to delay that whole permit process on that part of the work.  Thank goodness the front part of the house and dock continue to offer a still gorgeous vacation home!  :)

Here was the pool area as it sat a week ago on Monday, September 10th.  At least it was starting to take form.

Here it was at the end of the day Friday.  Admittedly, there's a lot more re-barb, but still a long ways to go.  Of interest, there's about 2 1/2 feet of water at the deep end of the pool in this picture.  This is the level it rises to when there is only ONE 2 HP pump draining the water.  It takes 2 of them pumping full time to keep the water all the way out of the new pool area.  Of course, it's a totally different story once the pools poured and filled with it's own water, but for now it's a fascinating look at the geography of this area.

Meanwhile, they said they'd be back on Saturday ... and it was a no-show/no-call.  And Monday was a no-show/no-call.  Tomorrow Tina get's back on the phone to start asking "what's up" again.  Meanwhile, Tina and I got busy again over the weekend tearing up the old shed.  I think Tina looks her best when she's out showing off her muscles and working up a bit of a sweat. (Honestly, she looks pretty good all dressed up, clean, and with no-sweat ... but that's not for this blog.)

At the end of the day, we were left with the rotten wood foundation and not much else.  If we can ever get our pool poured, we might be ready to get our new work shop done.

If you look at the above pic, the swampy area to the right and left of the pic are from the water being pumped from the new pool hole into the back yard.  This pic is with only ONE of the TWO pumps running!  It gets worse with both pumps running.

One last pic (which we sent out by email to a lot of people) is from Tina's Dad grave-site last weekend.  Tina's Mom bought a light and a flag for his grave and it's a beautiful site to see.  This time of year it's a shining light illuminating a flag on the hill as I drive down US 1 most mornings on my way to work.  It's a nice reminder that life still goes on for all of us.

Until the next update (after Tina starts yelling enough at our pool contractor) happy fall time everybody ... and happy birthday Herman on the 30th of this month  :)


 

Rear House Reconstruction Weeks 3 and 4

As of week 3, the pool contractor got serious about proceeding ahead having cleared the final hurdles of that permit process.  It all looked pretty innocent to start with, albeit we ended up with a rather large gravel pile in our back yard. 

An Innocent Looking Start

However, the original backhoe they brought in proved to be too wimpy for our "Rockledge"coquina ledges. That's when they brought in the big-boy Komatsu back hoe.  While getting the major rocks out which were 6 feet down from where our pool deck will be, the hydraulics broke on this bad-boy and they postponed further work until after Labor day.

The Big Honker Backhoe

It's amazing to watch during this whole process just how little separates our  house foundation and the underground water level.  I enjoy looking out front and seeing the river-front sitting at near eye level.  It's a bit more unnerving to watch them dig a hole in your back yard and have the water flow in just 4 feet below what used to be our back patio.

Pool Needs Filtering

Pouring in the New Gravel Base

Just to give perspective, here's one of the largest rocks they had to remove from the new "deep-end"of our pool.  Tina thinks my wanting to keep all the coquina is getting to be about nuts.  I think I'll figure out where to put it all ...

... somewhere over the next 3 or 4 years!  :)

Massive Coquina Rock - By Our Count This is Number 251! :)

But by the day after Labor day the pool actually started to take a real form.  Mind you there was a set of two pumps (2-HP each) keeping the water out of the hole in order to get the basic form laid.    A large portion of the back yard is soaked with water, but at least the pool is moving forward. 

The Boss Reviews

The Workers React

The guy in the hat down in the pool is actually the owner of the pool company.  He showed he's not afraid to participate in the work to the fullest.

Meanwhile, Tina and I continued on over the weekend getting the rest of the back shed emptied out and starting to tear off the old aluminum siding for recycling.  A quick view of the before and nearly after shows a stark difference.

The original plan called for building the new workshop area as a standard frame structure.  After having run into a massive amount of termites, roaches, (what we believe are) brown recluse, and even a black widow, we're thinking we might upgrade to a block structure.  A cement foundation will help a lot, but a block structure seems like it make sense in this location.

The Great Rear House Reconstruction of 2012

Tina and I knew we were going to redo the back side of the house sooner or later, and sooner finally came before later.  It took quite a while for us to figure out exactly what we wanted to do, but finally a couple of months ago we had it all figured out and set out to select the contractors.  That got delayed a bit by the family reunion, but after we returned we quickly got around to selecting the 3 major contractors ... Septic Tank, Swimming Pool, and House Modifications.  And so on the second week of August we signed the contracts and started the permitting process.

On the day after we signed the contract for the new septic tank, this was delivered in our front yard.

  

Yes indeed!  No permit ... no schedule of when it would be moved, but the lovely contractor placed our new septic tank smack in the middle of our front yard.  One of my employees at work suggested I put a sign on it saying "Mother-in-Law Suite", but I love Linda too much to do that!  :)

 Meanwhile, Tina and I started some of the demolition work ourselves.  We had already torn down and recycled the old screened in structure around the pool.  Then Tina got ambitious and climbed up on the rear patio roof to undo all the screws on the metal roof planks.  I think after an hour of being up there she was reconsidering her ambition.  We also needed to empty out the old shed out back since that's where our new workshop is going.  It's easy to forget how much junk you end up storing in a small shed.

Tina the Handy Woman

Nearly Empty Shed

And then on the 3rd week of August, the real fun began.  With Tina having started nagging at the septic contractor to move the tank from our front yard or else, they finally took the hint (and got the permit) to start the work.  And on the first day, our back yard was a total mess and the reconstruction of the Drago house started in earnest.

Digging the Drain Field

Fun Construction Toys

Anybody for a Swim?

By the end of the first week, the rear patio roof had been removed, the majority of the pool deck was gone, the Mother-in-Law Suite (sorry Linda) was in the ground, and the massive hole for the drain field was dug and partially filled with sand.

So the work has begun.  The septic tank and drain field are done and hopefully the pool work will start this next week.  Unfortunately, we probably have a lot more of a mess to go through before our back yard starts looking like a back yard again.  It was amazing in watching the hole they dug for the drain field just why they call this Rockledge Drive.  We had them save all the coquina rock so we can use it for landscaping.  I'm hoping we have enough landscaping to handle all of this.

Our Future Landscaping Rocks

But at least we do have the start of a back yard again.  It's not a great looking pool yet, but we're just being patient on that.

Septic Tank and Drain Field Complete - One Small Step ... ... ...

Post Hawaii Vacation Follow-up

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

When we took the helicopter ride around Mauai, Blue Hawaiian Helicopters films your trip via 5 camera's spread around the helicopter.  Then for a small price you can buy the DVD of your flight ... which, of course, Tina insisted we do.  A lot of the video doesn't end up being very good due to rain getting on the camera lenses, sun reflections, and other sorts of distortions.  As such, I edited it down quite a bit and managed to reduce a 1 hour video down to 24 minutes of mostly good footage.  Ofcourse to upload it onto the blog, I also had to cut the resolution down a bit so it would upload in less than 3 days.

 

When you're in the helicopter, you're wearing headphones so you can hear the pilot.  At the same time, they're actually playing music into them appropriate for where you are in the journey.  The sound you hear on this video is the actual sounds we were hearing through our headsets during the trip.

Click here for the helicopter ride video

Mahalo again for following this blog.

Catch-up Part II - April thru August 2012

In April we had one of those rare moments in life where we not only had an awesome double rainbow over the river, but it was truly rare in that it was a full end to end double rainbow.  Neither Tina or I had ever seen one before.  Not only was I out taking pictures of it, but people were stopping all along Rockledge Drive to take pictures of it.

Not only were we lucky enough to witness this and catch it on film, but as you can see from the following picture, the pot of gold was just on the other side of the river.  Tina wanted to take the boat over and pick it up, but I thought we ought to leave it for our friends over on Merritt Island.  :)

Our daughter Jessica got married at the end of April to our (now) wonderful son-in-law Adam.  The ceremony was down on the river front in Melbourne and the weather cooperated nicely for the outdoor ceremony.

Towards the end of May I continued on in the battle our son-in-law Chris has helped me start which was the 2012 Drago Ranch Wars Versus Evil Armadillo's.  Chris had gotten 2 when he was visiting before and I tied that number with my newly acquire weapon of mass destruction against armadillo's.

Finally, in July we had our big Drago family reunion up in Buchanan, Tennessee.  Tina and I officially took zero pictures the whole time we were up there.  I kept busy dragging around grand-kids, nieces, nephews and other relatives on the boat doing rafting, knee-boarding, and wake-boarding.  Tina kept busy beating her son-in-laws at tennis, although there's varying reports as to the actual results of those matches.  :)  Regardless, we had a fantastic reunion and I at least borrowed a picture from our daughter Jennifer of most of the people who attended the reunion.

 And so that's all the catching up I will do.  As I'm posting this, our backyard is officially a total mess with the pool mostly dug up and the new septic system being laid.  The next post will start covering the reconstruction effort.