welcome to the jungle!

We've been spending a lot of time thinking, planning, sketching, drawing, re-drawing, day-dreaming, and trying to track down 4000 cubic meters of dirt. And by dirt, I mean dirt. Good old fashioned dirt: sandy, silty, clayey, crusty dirt-- because the Thai equivalent of "compacted engineered fill" is whatever someone else is giving away, spread generously across the site and driven over a few times by a very large truck. And finally yesterday, after weeks of taking note of every mound of rocky debris we drive by, we might have finally found our dirt...!

So after doing a little bit of math you may ask: "Why do you need 5231.8 cubic yards of dirt?" Well, the site (an acre and some) is flat and only 50cm above the level of the adjacent river. So when-- not if-- but when it floods, we want to make sure that we have a little bit of high ground to stand on.

Goals for Summer 2008:
- Buy dirt. Get dirt to site.
- Find a good structural engineer. Make friends.
- Find some good contractors. Make friends.
- Build a (temporary) fence around the property.
- Get some bids? Too early?
- Plant some trees.
- Pick out doorknobs.
- Stockpile steel? Am I crazy?
- Can we fab our own Kalwall?
- David: learn some jobsite Thai.
- How big do Dobermans get?

A photo of our site/jungle (looking south):

To the south, a canal.
To the east, a small Thai temple.
Directly east of the temple, the Chao Praya River.

The tall, spindly beauties are betel nut trees. The site is an old durian grove, although the only fruit trees that remain on it today are coconut, banana, and lime. Sounds like a sherbet waiting to happen.