We Built Our Dream Home In The Woods

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When we discovered that the 13 supports would cost us about $40 each, new, we did what any dedicated MOTHER reader would do . . . we started looking for used ones. And, interestingly enough, we found that we could obtain such timbers free for the hauling from our local utility. You see, when a municipality decides to put its powerlines underground (as nearby Nevada City, California was doing when we began our search for poles), the electric company removes its lines . . . then Ma Bell follows suit, takes out her cables and poles, and gives the latter away to folks whose names are on a (very long) waiting list.

We wasted no time getting our name on that list. And, surprisingly, we were rewarded sooner than we'd hoped. The reason: Not everyone who's asked for them is ready at a moment's notice to go pick up telephone poles . . . and that readiness is sometimes what it takes. Thus, one morning we were awakened by a call from a phone company employee who wanted us to hurry to a city 40 miles away to pick up a load of poles. Bleary?eyed, we rented a truck at 7:00 a.m., drove out to the town, and got there just in time to have the supports loaded into the truck by a telephone company forklift!

(In case you're wondering how we managed to unload 500-to 600-pound poles from the back of the vehicle without the aid of a crane or a forklift, the answer's simple: We merely tied one end of a pole to a nearby large tree and drove the truck forward until the big timber slid out onto the ground.)

I might mention, by the way, that we didn't always have to go after the poles ourselves. Once?when we were still living in the city?a crew came out to replace the power pole in front of our house, and we got to keep the old one. And another time?while we were in Canada on vacation?the phone company delivered twelve poles to our driveway! (How's that for service!)

HOW WE DUG DITCHES . . . THE EASY WAY

From the very first, I worried about how we'd dig the holes in which to set our large wooden columns. My attempts to locate someone with a 24" auger had failed . . . and yet we had to find some way to make two-foot-diameter holes in the ground (that is, excavations large enough to accept our 12"-diameter poles and leave 6" of clearance all the way around each one).

We found the solution to our problem at a local construction equipment auction. There, we discovered a pair of exceedingly interesting (and useful) implements: [1] a two-wheeled ditching machine that was operated like a rototiller, and [2] a Jeep with a dozer blade on the front and a trench-digger on the back (Fig. 2). The second device especially captivated our interest, since the vehicle could?depending on whether it was kept stationary or allowed to travel forward slowly make either a single 5'-deep hole in the ground or a long, narrow (12" wide) trench. (And then, by moving the rear-mounted digger arm sideways on a track, one could easily widen that trench.)

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