DAY 1 - Preliminary Staking of the Pasture for Modern Farmhouse Construction

So many things I had absolutely no idea about (understatement of the century!)  I thought the first construction activity would be digging the foundation, WRONG!

Our builder arranged to have his topographic surveyor come over to the pasture today to take a detailed elevation survey of the land.  This survey will be used when applying for the permit--the permit needed to start digging.  As a side note, I was super impressed when I learned that the survey crew took all these measurements during the day today -- when it was raining!  Here are the guys making plans without me...bless their hearts :)

The coolest thing about today was that the surveyor put stakes in the corners of the house plan in the pasture.  After work, Matt, Mom, Charlie, the builder, the surveyor, and me met up to see the stakes in the ground.  I expected to just show up, have everyone say "Yup, that looks good!" and go home. Was I wrong!

First, the builder wanted us to really analyze the existing grade to see if we could work with the topography more efficiently.  He also wanted us to look at the distance we were from the street and from our property line.  We talked about how we would use the side yard and compared the other houses around to see where their homes were located.  For example, our builder asked us if we would prefer to have our driveway located across the street from our neighbor's driveway or offset.  To be honest, I never even thought about that!

We then looked at the orientation that the house was placed on the lot.  Specifically, should the house be in-line with the road or should it be oriented at an angle.  I was very impressed with the amount of time and consideration the builder and surveyor put into that decision.  They considered every outside area (the covered deck, screened-in deck, and the wrap around) and we talked about the views from each.  Matt pointed out that if we skewed the house too much, then the wrap around would not have the best view.  Good call, babe!

Finally (and perhaps, most cool-ly), the surveyor staked the center of the front doors and the rear of the house and the corners (as shown in the red "X's" below).

This perspective let me actually see what our guests will see when they walk in the front door.  The architect designed the house to have a see-through concept.  We got to pick the orientation so we saw our favorite trees (the cottonwood grove).  Such a smart thing to do that I would never thought to do...guess this is why they are the experts!  Here is the view (the stake in the foreground is the front door and the hard-to-see one behind is the rear of the house).

Here is the view from the wrap-around (where we will look at those cute belted galloway cows):

Here is the view from or master bedroom:

Here is the view from my parents' master bedroom west windows (stake is mislabeled front door):

And here is Matt and me...happy as can be  :)

On a side note, thank you so much for all the sweet messages and thoughts you have sent me!  Seriously made my DAY!!!