Count down to the first step being done

 So last I left you Woodchuck and gone out to the land on a day off to help the contractor. That was a Wednesday and just over a week ago. Things have grown even more frustrating since. The contractor told Woodchuck that it would all be done two days later on Friday. The downed trees would be moved to the prairie via a created opening in the back of the CRP, the driveway would be cut, graded, the film laid, the rock delivered and spread out, and the rest of the cut areas would be graded as well. 

So we went out there on a Sunday (two days after it was supposed to be done), disobeying physical therapists orders to stay off the land (I mean, come on! I'm not going hiking on the more wild parts, I just want to see if the work has been done!), and nope. It wasn't done. In fact, Woodchuck said it looked like the contractor left Wednesday when he himself did and hadn't done anything else since. So hubby called him and left messages, sent texts, and no reply for days. Now keep in mind that we also have not heard back from the home designer either after I sent her the information for a first revision on the main floor plan. It's been over two weeks now, and she doesn't even respond to the emails, letting me know that she got the info. How are these people still in business?!?! I am finding that other peoples communication issues is the root of the majority of my daily frustrations.

Then Woodchuck gets a text from the contractor stating that he'll be out there on a certain day, with a crew, to finish up. Ok. Let's see about that. So we went there on this past Wednesday and although work had been done....the job still wasn't finished. I gimped around in the mud, grumbling about too many trees gone, loss of privacy, the damn job still not being done and how I get to contact him this time. I sent him a text right there, telling him we were on the land and the NRCS was coming within two weeks and it needs to get done by then so we can all access the land. No reply. And now I'm infuriated.

 Keep in mind that this guy quoted for him to start the job in September of 2021 and it would take 3 days. We are now at the end of March 2022 and it's still not done. The kicker? I reminded him in February before I went in for surgery that the NRCS was coming out in March and it HAD to be done by then. He just doesn't care and I find that kind of blow off of my time and commitment highly infuriating! And he can't stay in touch, return calls? We have been more than patient, we have listened to his timeline and watched it get pushed farther back for months. We want this part of the job done and then we will cut ties with him and not use him for the other jobs we were going to use him on, and I will NOT recommend him to others. I can only imagine how the other clients are feeling about him right now too, since he's bouncing around between all of us. When hubby told him he was mad enough to track him down, the guy responded that he's not the only one.

I couldn't run a business were I was letting people down like this, and having so many of them pissed at me. He's shooting himself in the foot, running his business like this. He's taking on too many jobs at once and doesn't have the crew to get it done. So taking on too much business now is only going to have us not recommending him and then eventually lead to him not getting jobs. But I digress. Let's look at the progress that HAS been made!

                                                                         Before 👆

                                                                                After 👆

This is the main CRP, where we paid the USDA (back taxes) to remove a specified amount of land from the land program so we could build. It was really the only viable spot to build, otherwise we would have chosen another spot where we didn't have to remove trees.

                                                                        Before ☝ This is at the front of the land, between the road and the main CRP, and to the right of where the driveway will be. Lots of dead trees that we were going to take down ourselves, but Woodchuck's chain saw locked up.

                                                                        
                                                                            After 👆

One super important thing right now is the ingress/egress road.

                                                        Before ☝ though not a great picture. It's the trees forward and to the left that will have a road cut through them.

                                                                            After ☝

The contractor moved the shipping container for us, over behind the fishing shack. This is the area where the invasive were SO thick that even wildlife could not get through it. Woodchuck and I cleared that out last year.

                                                            All before pictures ☝

                                                            All after pictures 👆

My heart was happy though that Shadow McGhee came out of our forest to greet us! I had feared the worst when I saw something black and white had been hit on the highway and then he wasn't coming to greet us anymore after that. A couple of times over the Winter I found cat paw prints in the snow, but again, he never came out to see us (I don't blame him, it's cold out there!). Our sons would love for us to bring him home with us! Such a good boy! 😍

I did find some new things that I hadn't noticed before on these two trips out! Hazels growing along the main ditch and they were heavy with pollen! Woodchuck has agreed to leave them. 

I also found a pussy willow growing IN the ditch that we are going to try and pull, or take cuttings from. I have ADORED pussy willows since I was a child, and although I loved any tree even then, we had some of the pussy willows growing next to the duplex we lived in and I would climb into them (they were obviously trimmed to stay more bush-like) and pet the cats! So now I need to save the elderberries from falling in the pond, the blueberry bushes from the the leaking side of the pond, the pussy willow from the ditch, mark the hazels so that hopefully the guys don't mow them down (maybe move them? I don't know yet), and remember the line of Charlie Brown Christmas trees we transplanted last year? SO glad that we did that, because were from the front area of dead trees that the contactor just cleared out. I'm thinking we may eventually move those, or find other little starts to plant at the front that he cleared because you can see right through the white pines to where the house will be built. Those white pines will fill in the view nicely, and frankly, there were supposed to have been trees planted all the way to the road by the previous owner. We also would like to put sunflowers in too! I nice wall of color, BUT, we are concerned that people will stop off of the road and pick them. I don't mind sharing some, but they would be there for the pollinators, as well as to provide some privacy. We'll see how people-y I feel when the time comes!

I'm just trying not to get ahead of myself and get overwhelmed, which is easy to do out there! The main thing is to get this contractor done with his job and the hell out of the picture. Once he's done, and once the house designer finishes are drawings, we can be focused then on building the pole barn. And I for one cannot wait to be out in nature and doing what I do! Fighting invasive and nurturing the natives. Now that we've disturbed the soil in so many spots, there's no telling what is going to come up now! 👀 Stay tuned!!!! Until then, enjoy the orchestra of Spring Peepers on the ponds 💚