a nice surprise

Back when the elementary school was in the planning/permit stage, one of the things Bobby brought up was the fact we have a pond and the school was not planning to put up a fence. The town of Garner was also requesting a public walkway, which was going to be on the border of our property. I've lived here long enough to know that people think our pond is public property, even though the public doesn't maintain it, nor did they build it. And we're not the least bit interested in stocking the pond for the public nor having it drained because a child who couldn't swim wandered into it. So Bobby requested a fence, which I thought was a wise move. But I would have gladly said "I want this type of fence" and presented some options and gladly paid the difference between what the school was offering and something nicer. But not everyone thinks alike. As a result, we were told the most economical thing was a chain link fence, and for almost a year that was what I thought we were getting. So imagine my surprise when my husband told me this was what the contractors were going to put up, and they did within a week or two:

They started at the pond side. Didn't go as far back as I would have preferred, but we can plant shrubbery there to keep people out. 

and I lost a crepe myrtle...it was too far over on the school's side. I'd have gladly dug it up had I known.

But I'm really pleased with the end result. I feel like I have my yard back. I can work in the garden or clean out the hen house without feeling like I'm being watched.

They trimmed some of my trees that were right on the line. Not sure how they'll thrive, but time will tell.

The property line is actually the end of the chicken pen. We wondered what they would do, and they just moved the fence a few inches over. I guess I'll have to round up that spot as there is no way I can weed eat or mow there.

And my garden fence (to keep the chickens out) is just a little inside the property line. I think there's just enough space to run the lawn mower here. The sickening thing is that's just enough space to plant a row of something. I should have waited another year before putting the new one up.

From the back porch or the garage,  it's not all that much privacy. If anyone is in the corner of the yard at the end of the fence, they could see me on the porch (it's the lower part of the valley and our house is up on the hill). The same is true for people at the school. Clearly, if I can see them, they can see me. But either way, I'm still thankful for the fence and that it's not a chain link fence. The chickens are a bit confused by it, but I'm okay with that. :)

Bryan Rd Elementary School

One evening last week we took a walk down the closed part of Bryan Rd to look at the school and all the developments. Even with the closed signs up in the road, we still had to dodge quite a few vehicles.

I'm not sure what all the drilled holes in the road are for...testing for rock? Prepping to remove this section of the road? Supersonic sized moles? They go down quite a ways and are spaced along regular intervals from where the school drive will begin to a ways past Mr. Goodrich's driveway.

The view from view from the road (as opposed to the shots from our yard).

"The mountain" (it's what we call the huge mounds of dirt they created at the end of the Elem. Sch section of property) seems a little smaller these days - maybe because it has grass, maybe because part of it is gone, or maybe we've just gotten used to it.

Fire hydrants! And there's more to come. :) But I don't know why they're yellow, unless they just wanted a cheerful color.

The view from Mr. Goodrich's house...quite a different look!

One of the fence posts from the days the property was farmed by the Bryans. Hard to believe these 50+ old posts are still in good shape. Some of them still have the barbed wire attached.  

Rock piles (middle left) are still showing up everywhere. This is near where the gated entrance was by the Stancil place.

One of the many trees being hauled out. This one was as high as my waist.

The view look back towards our house (not visible) from near Ackerman Rd.

My camera doesn't capture night shots very well. It was nowhere near this dark. The light at the bottom was one of the security lights from the building (all 3 floors are now wired), and the light in the top was immediately above the building and was just a sliver of light protruding from the clouds. By the time we got home the moon had fully emerged from behind the clouds. I wish I had a better shot. It was truly neat and beautiful, especially the way it was positioned over the school.

Judging by delivery trucks, I'd say more walls and windows are going up this week.

not all bad

Tuesday we met with some workers and contractors and Wake County Dept of Education staff to discuss all the stakes in our front yard and what they meant. I'm a visual person, and I'm having a very hard time processing what our yard is going to look like when all is said and done. It's a bit overwhelming. I don't like thinking about all the hours we spent researching and planning, then planting, watering and pruning. It's not like you can just replant a new tree when that section of the yard is totally gone, and fruit trees take 3-5 years after planting before having a strong enough root system to truly bear fruit. I still need to call the underground fencing company and see how much they'll charge to redo the fence line, which is hard as we're not exactly sure where our new property boundaries will be. I hate seeing stakes in our yard, daily reminding me that we're losing almost 1/3 of our front yard. Not sure how the dogs will react to losing that much run space.

On the upside, the contractors told us it would be closer to March before our road was paved (there's still debate about whether our section is phase 2 or phase 3; phase 1 has started now), but that they may start working in the yard later this year. So at least now we have a time reference for what is going to happen. And the overgrowth on our property line, they'll be removing almost 1/2 of it. I'm not exactly thrilled about losing all the trees before it, but cleaning the briers and wild shrubs? That will be one less job on my future to do list. So there is a small lining in all the upcoming mess.

coming changes

About ten years ago, a small section of the farm that bordered our property was sold to the Wake County School System. We've known since then that both an elementary school and a middle school were going to be our neighbors. We also knew that when that happened, this view would change:

I know nostalgic people think I'm crazy, but I'm not an overly huge fan of living on a dirt road. The state does "maintain" the road, meaning that when the potholes and washboard effect get too bad they scrape it (and almost always cut our phone line) and add new gravel (which teenagers drive through super fast and sling everywhere). But that is not all that often. And we don't get a whole lot of rain, which means we have an incredible amount of dust. Sometimes in the summer it seems to just hang in the air. So I always thought I'd be glad when the road became paved.

But then ten years passed, and the layout of the school property changed, as well as requests from the town of Garner for the property. The long and short of it is that there will now be a town walking path that is right on the border of our property (and we have a pond), and immediately next to it is the school driveway. And the school wants a turn lane. So we were QUITE shocked two weeks ago when surveyors showed up in our yard, unannounced (by law you're supposed to have a 30 day notice), and started putting stakes around our 20 year old oak tree (in the picture below), our well, and in the opposite corner of our yard from the school property, all the way down into 1/3 of our yard. The stake they placed in the middle of our driveway I promptly removed.

We have yet to receive an explanation on any of the stakes from the BOE or DOT, no one will answer any of our questions, and their promised "we'll contact you next week" has now gone two weeks without happening. So we don't know if the paving of the road will require the removal of four trees, a huge section of our yard, relocating the dog's underground fence and our well, or not. I know that the person we've dealt with over the years left her job sometime in May. I don't know if the person who replaced her is overwhelmed in the new position, or simply inconsiderate and incompetent. But one of our neighbors is being treated even worse. And it makes me angry. Eminent domain is one thing, but this taking this much is arrogant and unnecessary.

school construction update

About a month ago I was amazed as I'd leave in the mornings for work how much construction had taken place the day before. I did manage to get a few photographs, but have not had time to load them before now.  So here's the old updates from my bedroom window...

As they scalped the landscape, the came across a very large rock. This is only part of it after it was dynamited and drilled. They're still drilling on it a month later (can the noise PLEASE stop?!?!)

We took these photos the one night I got home early enough to walk before it went totally dark. Here they'd just poured the concrete for the main section of the building.

Looking back at the machine parking lot and our house.

You can see the scaffolding going up!

Scaffolding has moved up quite a bit and the height of one doorway is now completed.

Bryan Rd Elementary, weeks 3 & 4

It's interesting seeing all the vehicles parked at night. It's like seeing a children's book. 

Debris fields

There's been at least four of these tree/brush pile that were larger than the vehicles.

Not sure, but this may be one of the retaining ponds. You can see more equipment through the trees and over the hills.

Debris burning begins...

"Jaws" kept adding brush to the fire, even though the flames are higher than it. I would not want that job.

And the rains came...lots of smoke, but the fires kept going.

Pipes rolled in on a big truck.

End of week 4 view. 

Bryan Rd Elementary School - week 2

I had quite the surprise when I came home from the hospital last week to get some things done late Friday afternoon. Things had changed quite a bit since Tuesday night!

I don't remember if this was Monday or Tuesday, but the two units were blocked and placed together.

More equipment and a little more clearing...

Friday afternoon - the big equipment was everywhere!

Fence is up from the edge of the creek (where our pond drains) and up through our yard to the chicken pen.

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They kept working, despite the snow...

Hopefully this week I can get back on my original plan of posting school pics every Friday afternoon. We're caught up on this for now!

catching up

In the last month we've spent 11 days at the hospital (and that's not counting the number of days sick at home!) and went several days without power due to the ice storm,  so I've had to let many things slide, including this blog.  So hopefully I can get caught up on a few posts this week.

Today- week one's photos from the future site of Bryan Rd Elementary School.

Day one - starting to clear the field

This little machine moves fast, knocking over small trees and upending their stumps as if they were seedlings!

placing the pipe in the new driveway

placing rocks on the black stuff for an entrance

We turned the chickens out after the work stopped. They immediately went to play "Queen of the Hill", though they were a bit confused that their paths among the weeds and dirt spots were all gone.

View at the end of Day One...a bit heart-wrenching though nice to see the field somewhat neat again.

Delivery of the work base. Some more clearing was done over the hill (out of site from our house), but that was all the visible work from our place. The fact that it rained probably had a lot to with it as well.

We are certainly in a time of transition on our little dirt road!