Saturday, January 7, 2012

A survey crew came out and marked our property corners yesterday. We've heard a few stories of people building on the wrong property. Either it's not uncommon or it's become an urban legend. Not that we're urban. Anyway, now we've got the location certified. We went exploring after it was marked. We're trying to figure out the topography, how far back the house will be from the road, and whether we're sitting in a hole that will flood in heavy rains. They prepare building sites here by "ripping" the lava -- basically running it over and over with a big excavator to grind it up. Many sites we've seen then truck in red cinder to help level and smooth the land. I'm not sure why red, not black. We planned to rip about one acre. We might need to rip more to get material to build up the area under the house and keep us out of the water.
We got an interesting piece of information from a neighbor: there is no internet service in Hawaiian Acres. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around this. I'm counting on technology to advance at a quick enough rate that I won't have to live off-line for long. I know there's a way to create hot spots with a cell phone. Please email me (while I still have email!) if you have suggestions.