Fall Colors and Septic Layout

Did a quick weekend trip last weekend with a plan to meet Rich Halverson from Halverson Plumbing out of Black River Falls. We set this up right after our summer trip as the septic location needed to be determined in order to complete the house final location and all the other utilities.

Septic System: We ended up leaving Friday morning out of San Diego to Minneapolis and flew back Monday afternoon. We met with Rich right on time on Saturday morning. After walking the site, we were happy to hear that Rich thought the location we preferred had a good chance of working for us. It was really nice for Rich to come out on a Saturday to pre-meet us before Monday morning's plan to meet the County! Bright and early on Monday morning, we got up at 5 am (3 am PST!) to make it out to the property to see the sunrise. We ended up getting there right after 7 am and made the final corner at the top of the hill right when the sun was starting to rise. The valley was foggy and super-cool! We heard Rich down the hill unloading the trackhoe right on time at 7:30. Rich ended up digging around eight holes to get the lay of the land. The inspector from the Jackson County zoning/planning department, came out and inspected the holes and confirmed that the amount of usable soil was just deep enough for an in-ground septic system - we were so happy! After confirmation from the County, Rich figured out which holes worked best, and came up with a concept on how to lay it out. He got out a laser level, set up some contour lines on the ground, and managed to set out three leach fields fourteen feet from field to field, that will probably not require cutting down any trees. How awesome it that! Not only will an in-ground system work, but it will be out of site from the house. What a relief!

Fall Colors: Can you say perfect timing on the trip, too? I think we spent the nicest three days of the year on our property. The trees were at peak color and the maple trees on our property were some of the most awesome trees I have ever seen! So awesome that we have considered some ideas on slight changes to the house design because of it. We will see what the details of Plan E look like and see if any changes make sense and talk to Jim about it. It was interesting that on Monday morning, many of the trees had lost half their leaves. The change happens so quickly! It was nice to just be out there and as the breeze kicked up, you can see and hear the leaves gently falling to the ground. It was nice to also see Joe's dad and Terese, too. They came up on Saturday morning and spent the day on the property with us then we (Joe/Terese, Mom/Dad Thompson, and all of Anne's siblings) all went to supper at the Stone's Throw in Hatfield.

Every time we go back, it is harder to leave - especially when the weather is so perfect! Ended up leaving the site on Monday a little after 11 am, met Dad and Alan at the station to lead up and head to the airport in Minneapolis. Minor scare on the way to the airport when traffic stopped and the car started to overheat! Got to the airport safely and on-time, made it to Phoenix and found our flight was delayed. Ended up waiting an extra hour and a half, and got to San Diego just in time. After running through the airport and catching a slow shuttle to get the car, Anne managed to make it to the pet hotel at 8:59 - just in time! Too bad that the doggies couldn't come with this time, but after we picked them up at the Petsmart Pet Hotel in La Jolla, we found that they had a great time and Orion found a girlfriend, Patches! It was nice to see them;-) Went back to the airport to pick up Joe and the bags and ended our short trip and long day back in Riverside sometime after midnight...