Water and Waste at Bemis

I've actually been retired now for 13 days and this is Stephen Christopher's 4th birthday outing. He and Cassie are enjoying a ride at GattiTown (similar to Chucky Cheeses') - he for sure is enjoying, I'm not so sure that Cassie isn't going to cry.  Now with all this free time on my hands (NOT!!) I've got a lot of work to plan and get ready for my time when I go back to Bemis. 

February 13, 2009

I must have went to Bemis mid-April to meet with and establish some sort of plan to have the well drilled at the driller's first opportunity.  In any case my 4 sisters came up for a Saturday afternoon jaunt.  Yep they, like my brothers before them, got lost and ended up coming in late that afternoon.  They found their way to Elkins at the Walmart and got directions on how to get over the mountain and come in the "back door" from the north end of town. Because of the condition of the road I won't go that way anymore (had a rock puncture a tire on my last and final trip). But they made it and came in very excited about the "momma bear" and 3 cubs that they encountered coming over the mountain.  At least they knew enough not to get out and try to catch one of the cubs.

April 18, 2009

Now I remember why I wasn't able to work more on the place in Bemis immediately after I retired. Stephen took a job at a new church in Hopkinsville, KY (1 3/4 hours away) and we ended up keeping the kids quite a bit during the early transition. They finally found a house and although the house didn't need a lot, there was a lot of time involved with traveling and helping them getting settled (of course seeing Stephen Christopher and Cassie may have affected us some).

May 2, 2009

Certainly is rocky - and sandy underneath that grass, should and does make for good field bed for a septic system.  Of course if you have been there you will recognize this because of all the rocks that are sticking up from the years that the river has influenced the terrain in the valley.  We took most of these big rocks and either covered them up or pushed them to the river bank.  There was one, very big rock - almost box like - about 3 feet on a side that I wish we had kept in this area for landscaping. This septic system may not meet code, but knowing that most of the camps in the area are nothing more than a 55 gallon barrel with maybe a few feet of leech bed (and I never smell septic anywhere) I feel good that this tank and the leech field that we installed will more than accomodate the traffic we have at the cabin.  I know it smells better than the two holer just to the east of the field bed.

September 10, 2009

Brother Tony came up to help me install a pump in the new well and to complete several other electrical projects that had been hanging. Lydia and David were glad to be there, although I'm not sure they weren't just glad to be spending time with their dad more than they actually liked the place.  They didn't catch any fish, but then they didn't get lost or fall in the creek either. The guy who placed the septic tank had filled it with water to hold in place during construction and we placed the pump into the tank to insure that the used pump would run and move water. It seemed to work well and we proceeded to make up the piping/wiring and drop the pump into the new well - which had been drilled over the summer.  I should have gotten photos of that rig - it was quite a "Rube Goldberg" and was held together with bailing wire.  

September 14, 2009

Sue decided that for my birthday we should go to the beach, and we ended up going to Sandestin, Florida.  Beautiful place, but I still had a lot of work to do at Bemis. I fished a little while we were at the beach but I don't recall catching much - went down to the pier towards Orange Beach and saw some porpoises and a sea turtle which was pretty cool. I think we shopped a lot at the outlet malls there.

October 2, 2009

When I got back to Bemis for the annual fall stocking/fishing get-together, I was able to get Ron White to come up from his campground and with the help from his tractor/front end loader we were able to fill in the ditch and get the ground somewhat leveled around the well head and over the line going inside the cabin. The pump was in and pumped the water - which was very good. Ron told me that most water in town had some severe iron problems but so far the water is good - if we can get it pumped up (I'll expand on that in another post). I had time and sowed some grass to help make things look better. 

October 22, 2009

When Tony came up he brought a kitchen counter top and a stainless sink in his van that he had found at a Habitat store.  He was good enough to connect the water feed and drains and "WALA" we had running water in the kitchen. He also hooked up the hot water heater and we not only had hot water for the kitchen but for the shower and bathroom as well.  Things are really looking up!!!

October 22, 2009

OK, now what I have to do is crawl under those pipe and open the valves (that you can't see) so that I can blow out the water and winterize the place before I leave.  I've done that 3 times now, plus crawling back under in the spring time to close the valves before turning the water on.  I've currently decided that the first thing on my agenda is to get the valves where I can access them without having to belly crawl under the house - I can't make that crawl much longer.

October 2009

Ok, the weather is not cooperating for work on this day, so I took advantage of the situation to go down and catch a couple of trout to prove to Sue that I had actually been to Bemis.  That's all for now, I'll post again soon.

October 2009

Bemis, Exterior Remodel - 2008

After very little firm committment and no written contract (I did have substantial telephone discussion and email trade with the contractor about what I wanted to do) we got started with what I hoped to be a successful remodel that would suit Sue's requirements.  The southern end of the cabin (shown here) had the walls extended to normal height and all rotted wood was removed and the floor was jacked and braced to level.  You can see the new roof and finish trim on the entire building and the hardie board siding beginning to be put on.  

May 20, 2008

The guys (3) working on the project weren't pretty but they were actually pretty good and did most of what I expected. Of course, working with a contractor that far from home was not something that is recommended. I did take a week of vacation here to check on progress - I believe this was the third time that I was there in early 2008.

May 20, 2008

The weather cooperated very well that week in May, and as you can see the cabin is starting to shape up quite nicely.  New electrical power feed is ready for hook-up by the power company - that actually came later in the week.  The TV antenna was removed and later replaced by satellite - a nice improvement and worth what I pay to be able to see most stations - local stations (Evansville, IN) are not available  - but we do have east and west coast ABC and CBS as well as all the DTV channels we have in Indiana!

May 26, 2008

New electrical feed has now been installed, this included a 100 amp breaker service that brother Tony came up and helped me complete. The contractors also installed the crawl space access that you see under the electrical meter - this access is only for the 12 foot additon on the north end of the cabin. You can see that a bond fire is in the making - have to get the wind right else we could burn down the cabin. Hard to see in this photo, but on the left beside the closest porch post is the location of the well. The pump base is visible, but this timing is apparently when the foot valve fell off the pump and I had to pull the pump and try to repair - that whole story will require a post. I realized at this time that I was going to have to get gutters and downspouts on the building to keep from having dirt splash on the siding.

June 28, 2008

I found a good price on some red oak prefinished flooring that I installed in the south end of the building. You can see where it butts against the tavern grade hardwood flooring in the kitchen area.

June 28, 2008

The other end of the cabin received a new bedroom with hardwood flooring, paint and an overhead fan to keep the place cool - I actually found time to make the bed. The doorway into the bedroom has not been finished in the photo. I believe this is the 4th or 5th trip up in 2008.

July 28, 2008

Boy was it hot this July.  This young family is obviously enjoying the coolness of the water.  Like most of the locals I used the stream to take my daily bath (the locals mostly just showed up on Saturday for their weekly ritual) while I was there in July. After painting, laying flooring or just mowing grass the water in the stream refreshes one's well being and helps provide for a good night's sleep.

July 2008

A small bathroom, nice sized shower provides all the conveniences of home except no water yet.  The tile flooring was a Home Depot special that I put down without too much trouble. Did this make six trips or seven?

9/22/2008 (Almost my birthday)

I couldn't resist submitting a photo of brother Carey's lodge near Ferrum, Virginia just to let you know that if this place were on my land in Bemis I never would leave. Oh well, at least he lets me stay there when we go home to visit.

10/21/2008

I'll try to get at least one more post out before the end of the year.  It is tough trying to shop and keep grandkids and create posts that will make you want to go to Bemis and see if you can catch a trout.  Take care and if I don't write again before ..... Have a Merry Christmas.