Bye Bye Mosquitos!

We just ordered our very own Blue Rhino Skeeter Trap...stand by for results! (We saw our first mosquito yesterday - this is war.)
4/3 Update: The Blue Rhino has arrived, but we will wait a while to test it out. Again a mosquito was spotted today in 40 degree weather!

Slow and steady...

Though there isn't much to show for it, progress continues. Matt has been working away on finalizing the drawings...so many details to figure out. He also worked all afternoon on Saturday taking down the chain link fence - a slow job for one person, but he got about half of it down. Sam, Gus, and I joined Matt late in the afternoon for a hike through our "back yard." We explored a boardwalk trail and saw skunk cabbage, wild turkey, and deer. What a great place for two boys to grow up!

More Schematic Views

view from above

Inside the living room

Schematic Views

View from driveway
View from street (without trees)
Entryway

Site Plan

This is a rough plan of the site as it is now....along with the house it was separated from.
Our site plan

Model Photos

Tennis Court Views

view from the road

Tennis Court Picnic

This is the day we closed on our land!

We're building a home!

We're building a home!

Last summer we purchased a delapidated, old tennis court in the Unversity of Wisconsin's arboretum. We hope to post our progress on this site.

Since July '06, Matt has been hard at work designing our future residence. In February 2007, Matt successfully rezoned our lot from R2 to R3 in order to locate the house on the footprint of the court by reducing the rear setback line. This will hopefully allow us to keep the majority of the trees on our 1 acre lot. As this lot is in an unsewered portion of the Town of Madison, we have secured our septic permit and will also need to drill a well. There is some controversy in the neighborhood over development of a nearby property for profit. It is unfortunate timing, but as a result, we've met many of our future neighbors and have felt very welcome.

We have selected Tim Wood of Oregon, WI as our builder. He has experience with SIPs (structural insulated panels), which we are planning on using. It is our hope to build this home as "green" as possible and as efficient as possible. We are planning on a geothermal system for heating and cooling the building.

Construction is set to commence in July.