got a little time tonight
Tomorrow we are going to Holiday World to get in one last hurrah before the summer comes to a close. With the exception of the youngest, the boys are over at their cousins' spending the night, so it's a little quieter around the house tonight.The financial retreat went well. I think the financial topics captured Nathaniel's interest well enough, and I think he learned a good bit. I need to follow-up with him and make sure we keep the momentum going by giving him some assignments that he has to complete before he can go on next year's retreat. I'll assign him some books to read and maybe a paper to write. I think I will have an assignment like that after each year's retreat just to make sure that they expand upon what was taught. There's only so much you can cover in a retreat.
Last week we had our special exception hearing to re-zone the property we are buying from agriculture to residential (a pre-requisite to buying it). The properties that preceded ours were a bit interesting and there was considerable debate in clearing them. It had me a little worried. I thought that our property was pretty straight-forward. I presented our case (very briefly) and sat down. They asked if anybody else wanted to speak in favor of the petition and a couple stood up and approached the podium. It totally escaped me that they had asked for those in FAVOR of the petition and I was thinking they were in opposition to the petition. They started off with concerns about the drainage of the property (which further led me to think it was an opposition statement). I had intended to address the fact that we were getting an easement to the property next door to tie into the county tile, but I had forgotten to mention it in my statement and I was all ready to present a counter argument when it became clear that they were speaking in favor of the petition. I had to ask Davon (our agent) if they were in favor or against and she set me straight.
The panel remarked how uncommon it was and how lucky we were to have a future neighbor speak in favor of the petition. Besides that, the panel discussion regarding the property went very fast. It turns out that the petition was straight-forward and it was approved easily. They did recommend that we not build a basement (as did our future neighbors) and I mentally added them to the list of those recommending against a basement. Duly noted. Basement still going in. We'll account for the challenges of the property and make the necessary adjustments. We'll build higher out of the ground and berm up earth, seal the outside with waterproof seals, make a good perimeter drain and so forth. Combined with ICF construction, I think a basement will more than hold up under those conditions.
Well, I have to help the other blaw get stuff ready for tomorrow, so I'll stop here.
posted by bylaw @ 8:50 PM
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