2021 Thursday — Full Day

This photo is an eclectic mess, but I’m trying to capture/document a couple things that happened today.

We’ve just hired an engineer to survey our back yard. He is also licensed to design back yard construction and we are asking for our hillside to be transformed into a gradual path (not stairs) that has several switchbacks and ultimately ends at the top of our hill with a 10 x 10 or 12 x 12 sitting and viewing place.

This idea has been swirling in our thoughts since we purchased this place in November 2012. When a rock slid a foot or three this past January during a very unusual heavy rain, our wishful thinking turned to action and we began to talk seriously with construction people.

We were pretty sure this project needed an engineer, so when one contractor explained that he’d bring his engineer into this project to discuss what’s feasible, we felt we’d possibly found the contractor we wanted to work with. His name is Bryan. What we didn’t realize was that the engineer, Robert, was also licensed to not only do design, but also to do construction.

So Robert wrote a plan with a timeline that explained all that he and his team would be doing and the cost. We were given the initial plan in late May. Our first big hurdle was sticker shock and the realization of what engineering and designing would cost.

So then the plans were fine tuned to include written instructions specifying that all design would be to devise a project that would not need county building permits. As the pathway moves up the hill, a retaining wall on the hill side of the path will be necessary. As long as those walls are not taller than 48 inches, permits will not be necessary. Permits cause property taxes to increase; our goal is for that not to happen.

So Robert and his team of two CalPoly architect students were here for several hours today with their survey equipment measuring and inspecting our land.
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Later in the afternoon we drove into San Luis Obispo (a 20 minute drive) for the third time in three days. Mr. Fun had an appointment to get his Mac laptop looked at by the technicians at the Apple Store. The past two days we’ve been at the Staples Store to purchase a printer for our laptops. Then his laptop quit working today. Thankfully when we bought it on December 31, 2019, he purchased the 3-year service plan. So his laptop was “sent out” for repairs.

The Apple/Mac Store was surprisingLy empty of people. The one we frequent in SoCal is often elbow-to-elbow and very noisy.

That’s it for the last Thursday of June, and a beautiful day on the Central Coast.

Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol
and Chloe & Mitzi too!