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March 15, 2006
A site visit and ongoing work.
A week or two ago I talked with Chris and Stew about stopping by the site some day when they were there. During the last site walk, I had walked with some other Mosaic-ers down to the newly purchased corner of the property, and tried to get an idea of where the actual borders were, and where the septic field would go. 
There were zillions of surveyor stakes and markers there, and we couldn't get a good idea of where things were going. I wanted to be able to say "There's where the field will go, this is where the plumbing and power will run..." etc.
Stew readily agreed, and said that yesterday (Monday, 2/27/06) would be a good time, as he'll be out there checking on some ongoing work.
We met onsite on February 28th around 1:30pm - it was AMAZINGLY cold out (my car thermometer said 16 when I left the house, had risen to 19 by the time I got to the site). Stew had brought his 70lb golden retriever 'Jake' with him, and we set out for a walk.
There were apparently several crews at work on the site. Here's what was going on:
1) The pump testing was beginning - this was a sort of stress test on the wells to find out how long they could operate at peak output - how did the wells refill after being pumped out, etc. It'll run for several days. Today was mostly setting up - one of he wells had the pump installed already, the other was being worked on. It involved a pair of large rigs on site - we asked why they needed such a large - what appeared to be a - drilling rig for just a test, and they noted that on the southern-most well, something had blocked the pipe about 50' down. This is not uncommon - it's usually just a
piece of rock coming loose and shifting, probably during the hydrofrac procedure. They were going to clear it out and set the pump down at the bottom.
2) There was another crew working down by the septic field - they were installing test wells - these are basic water testing holes, going down about 20' I think, that are just doing further analysis of the perc attributes of the soil. There'll be a bunch of these . Folks visiting the site will see white PVC pipes with caps on the top, sticking out a couple feet out of the ground. (these are smaller than the earlier pipes that were put in last year - these are only about 2" across, and are capped).
There were a couple new developments of note.
In order to get heavy equipment down to the septic site, they crews needed to clear a new feeder path, with permission from SVT of course. This path goes from just past the site of the northern well head, diagonally toward the new northwest corner . They didn't cut any trees larger than about an inch (Stew made a circle with his thumb and forefinger), and walking on the trail, it looks like they did a good job. But we have another road/path in the woods now. This road will go all the way to the northwest corner of the property, and then 'zigzag' down the hill to where the septic field will be.
The site of the septic field is probably the most isolated, private spot on the entire property. Not only are there absolutely no houses in sight (including ours, when they're built), but there are hills on 3 sides (including several hundred feet of our own property), and woods down into the lake on the south side. Couple this with, call it, a half acre of cleared, flat property in those woods, on side of a hill (terraced - some part will be flat, another section will be on a terrace above it.), and you have an -amazing- quiet spot back in the woods where no one will disturb you.
It's a gorgeous walk - I recommend folks head up there and enjoy it :)
Oh, one last bit - the question came up "Where is the pipeline going?" - because the pipeline also has to avoid the wellheads, it will NOT be following the existing road/paths through the woods. The pipeline will be following hte far western edge of the property down to where our houses will
be. This will likely mean a new pathway will be born along that strip, making a perfect western path countering the north/eastern path that is already in the woods. A great loop for walking on.
Posted by dbs in Status reports at 3:12 AM