"What do you mean Dad?" Megan asked as they all sat down at the kitchen table for some coffee after Sean and William finished the stable.
"Well we've been talking about it and we think you would make a good face for the business. William can help me with maintenance and upkeep of the property and buildings. We'd keep a small herd of sheep for show mostly. And we'll even get some riding horses as part of the amenities." Sean explained as Louise poured coffee.
"Wait, I don't understand. Amenities such as riding horses for a wedding venue?" Megan asked, puzzled.
"No sweetheart." Louise squeezed her hand. "This is the plan Paige worked out for us. She's been worried about how hard farming is on your Dad as well as the number of droughts we experience. She believes with the right buildup, in addition to the wedding venue, we can run a bed and breakfast as well. And all of us will be well cared for with a lot less work."
Sean nodded.
"The big lot to the South that hasn't been developed like the rest of the farm will be turned into parking for the wedding venue and the first bed and breakfast." Sean explained as he pulled out the packet Ralph sent them.
"The rocks they'd excavate from it will be used in part to build a hill that will block off the field to the East of it. They'll have to dig a retention pond here, that dirt will help create the hill too. But the hill will include a path through it from the parking lot back to the first building where the bed & breakfast will be." Sean pointed out the drawing Paige had made up. "Now, the way it is figured, you guys will move into this set of rooms on the first floor. As you can see it sprawls out away from the rest of the building so your bedrooms won't pick up as much noise from the renters. It has three bedrooms and two baths for you. In case you decide to have another child." Sean and Louise both smiled.
Megan shook her head with a smile.
"There is a room on the ground floor for meal preparation and dining for the renters. That will be my responsibility." Louise said with a rueful smile.
"Aye, but you know I'll be there for you love." Sean kissed her hand as Louise smiled.
"The rest of the sets of rooms are for the renters. One set on the ground floor and then there are four sets on each of the other two floors. Those rooms all have two bedrooms and one bath in each, with a common room for the family to use together, either for relaxing or for eating." Louise pointed out. "We'll also have some bungalow style living spaces over here for honeymooners."
"And if everything goes the way Ralph's friend has calculated, using Paige's model, in three years after we open, we'll be able to open up another building of the same design but over here. Now this one we'll have to hire people to live and work in it. Every three years or so after we open a new building, we'll be able to open another building. If we want." Sean explained.
"This all sounds so amazing." Megan smiled. "We'd have to really think about it though."
William nodded.
"Elia's place has been amazing for us, what with Megan's illness. We'd really need to go over everything because I wouldn't want to burn that bridge." William told them.
"Just so you know, all of the property and our share of all of what we are doing will solely be yours when we pass on. Walter and Paige are on a whole other trajectory from ours and we want to be sure that you guys and your family never have to struggle like we did on this farm." Sean explained softly even as a tear ran down his cheek. "You guys take these papers back home and study them. Just don't let anyone else see them. Don't want to give anyone else any ideas." Sean laughed with his eyes filled with tears.
Monday, April 11th, 2005, O'Brien farm, Callan, Ireland:
"Can I help you?" Louise called out as she looked up from her clothesline at the large work truck that stopped in the middle of the road. There were several pickup trucks behind it with men and materials as well.
"Ah, yes Ma'am. We're looking for the O'Brien farm, is this it?" The man driving called out from the truck as he pointed at the lot with survey flags all around it.
"You found it." Louise smiled but was curious now looking at the crane and all the building material stacked on the back. "Are you here about the barn?"
"Oh, no Ma'am." Another man said as he came from the other side of the truck. "We're here to put in the toilets."
Louise frowned.
"I think you need to speak with my husband." Louise said. She looked down the side of the house towards the barn. "Sean." Louise called out.
Sean stepped out of the barn and saw Louise at the clothesline, a man in work clothes close by and a large work truck on the road. He began walking quicker towards the front.
"Can I help you?" Sean said warily.
"Ah, Mr O'Brien. My apologies, it sounds like you folks weren't expecting us today." The man said. "I'm Bill Doyle. We'd been told you were expecting us. Our company was contracted to put in the toilets." Bill explained.
"Sean." Sean told him as he extended his hand. "While we were expecting the work to be done, no one called to set it up yet. Do you have your work order?" Sean asked as they shook hands.
"Right here." Bill nodded and showed it to him. "I'll make sure to let the office know that the scheduler never called you folks, I'm really sorry about that."
Sean nodded seeing it was all set up through Ralph.
"Well fortunately it isn't a problem. Your work won't affect anything else. Of course we figured you'd be calling soon since the surveyors were out last week and marked everything off." Sean told him as he gestured off to the South and a bit East. "Let me walk you out there."
Bill nodded and gestured at the men in the trucks before the pair began walking off to the South. Bill referenced the property drawing and the flag markers as they walked.
"Since you didn't know about us, I'm going to guess they didn't schedule the team that's due out next Monday to begin clearing this lot too?" Bill asked.
Sean shook his head.
"Nope, first I've heard, so thanks for the heads up." Sean told him.
"Are you having a large party?" Bill asked as they walked through the untended land.
"Our boy is getting married. Our daughter wants the wedding in the barn so her Father is having these put in for the guests." Sean nodded.
Two of the pickups followed two men walking and entered the lot and stopped. They began getting fencing out of the back of the trucks to line the property with.
"Oh man, I hope my daughter doesn't find out when she decides to get married. Last thing I want is to add an expense like this." Bill laughed and Sean joined him. "When's the wedding?" Bill asked.
"Middle of June. Ralph had wanted this done to also accommodate the workmen that will be coming out to convert this lot into parking, and of course the work on the barn itself." Sean explained. "Will you be done in time for your other crew?"
"No, we'll be here for about two to three weeks all together putting in the septic system and building the structure and putting in all the plumbing. But we'll have some porta-loos on hand for our men and the landscapers. Whoever does the barn work will be able to use them if that will cut down on your cost, depending on when they start. That's very kind of the bride's Father. Looks like the team that is going to convert most of this land has their work cut out for them." Bill chuckled as he saw all the rocks, bushes and saplings. "Once the crane gets our foundation and septic system dug, they'll begin gathering up the rocks and knocking down the trees. As well as digging the retention pond. Did you want to keep the trees for firewood or anything?"
Sean nodded as he smiled.
"That's good to hear about how long it will take. I wasn't sure how long something this big will take. I hope we don't have any setbacks." Sean said before pointing at the ground they were walking on. "Yeah, if they can put the trees just to the North of the landscape area. This lot was never cultivated because it had been part of a feud between two brothers in the family for a number of generations. But besides my children, I'm the end point of those two lines. The other line of that spat died out with my Grandfather's cousin. I've left the land as it was, just out of respect and the fact that I never wanted to be the one to clear it for use." Sean laughed as Bill joined him.
"Man, generational arguments are the pits." Bill nodded.
"They are." Sean agreed. "This is the area Ralph had sent me a drawing for." Sean said as he stopped and gestured.
Bill pulled his property drawing back out and examined it as he looked at the area. He waved back at the truck with the crane and two guys got out, the driver began to follow one man as he walked ahead of the truck to be sure there were no big rocks that could cause damage to the truck. The other work trucks followed behind it.
"Over there is the well we get our water from." Sean gestured back towards the barn. "You can put in a gate in the fence if you guys have any need for water."
"Thanks Sean. I'll make sure the trees get put where you want them." Bill smiled and held out his hand.
"Thanks Bill." Sean nodded as he shook his hand and walked back to the house.
"I thought they were just going to put out porta-loos?" Louise said as Sean got close.
"They will for their own uses. But this is part of the Wedding Venue we talked to Ralph about. He said long range cost factors make putting in a permanent septic system a better deal." Sean explained.
They watched as one worker drove a sign into the ground close enough to the road for someone to read the development information before he walked on back to join the others.
Louise kept an eye on the men most of the day. They'd been respectful and tidied up after themselves as they went. After school had let out, a lot of kids had gathered at the property edge and watched as the crane worked. It had already dug out the foundation and broken ground for the septic tank.
A double row of security fencing was put up to help keep people out of the property. William and Megan came over that night and Sean and William moved the picnic table over close to the edge of the two properties, down by where the gate was. They brought over twenty large unsplit logs and sat around the same area to give the men places they could sit for a break.
Sean, Louise, Megan and William stood outside the fenced area and stared at the "damage" to the property wondering if they made the right choice. It was alien to look at the property that had always looked a certain way, to now look "abused". The sight of the mound of excavated dirt, that would be used to backfill the septic system. The large crane sitting in the middle of the fenced lot. A dump truck sat there with about a full load of dirt that would be moved to the South property.
Monday, April 18th:
The landscaping crew arrived to begin work. Thanks to the size of the lot the two crews were able to work without getting into each other's way very often. The crane was solely working to uproot trees and pick up the rocks at this point. Louise made up a huge batch of lemonade every day. and Sean put it out on the picnic table at the start of each day. After the first day the grateful men left their large igloo coolers at the farm so it was easier for Louise to fill with the lemonade.
Louise decided to test one of her recipes she'd been working on for the bed and breakfast and made twenty quarts of Irish stew and four large soda breads and served lunch to the entire crew working on the project. Since he had recently gotten back from a prolonged stay in Dublin, Louise invited her brother Tobin to join them for lunch. Tobin was completely shocked at what they were doing.
The men were quite grateful and they took up a collection and gave it to Louise. They had to beg her to take it. They told her they'd be more than happy to pay for the meal, and any others she felt up to making for them. Their generous payment was the first "official" income from their new venture. It easily paid for the cost of the food as well as paid Louise nearly €25 an hour for her time.
Tobin stayed over for supper with Louise and Sean. Since William had to work late, Megan had come over with Patrick for supper as well. After supper they went over the plans of what they were going to do. Tobin was very impressed with the plans and nodded approvingly. He was happy that Megan and William were going to be part of it while William would work part time for Elia's company.
That Friday Louise made lunch for the men again but she told Bill she wouldn't accept such a large sum from them again. She said as long as they agreed to the cost of the food and €15 an hour for her time, she'd be honored to cook for them on Mondays and Fridays. The smell of the corned beef and cabbage earned her a number of praises and then even more as the men dug into them and the colcannon potatoes.
They'd built quite a little friendship with the workers over the two and a half weeks they put in the toilets. And they were all a bit sad that half the crew would be gone.
Louise found a plastic bag in the cooler of the landscapers the next morning. And in the plastic bag she found €300 and a note saying they really enjoyed her cooking and this was for her and Sean for being so kind to them. Sean came down to find Louise crying over it.
The landscapers would be on sight another week before the pavers would come in and finish the lot. They nodded understandingly to Sean as he told them they couldn't accept the money. But they told them the money came from the other crew and they refused to take it.
They said goodbye to the last of the landscapers on May 6th and then on the 7th the pavers were there.
They had put in a retention pond on the South side of the parking area that was to offset the asphalt that would be poured over the land. It wasn't long after the first few rains that the pond was half full and several teens who caught fish in the lake brought them over and released them into the pond.
Sean shook his head as he couldn't understand why they would do that when the lake wasn't that far away. But he just smiled, boys just being boys he finally decided.
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well!
Chipbass - Thank you brother! So glad you are enjoying it! Age does have a way of creeping in sometimes. While he knows it is just biology, Walter is still pretty proud he did! lol Working smart definitely beats working harder!
Railman - Happy's definitely a mixed sort when it comes to Toby, hopefully it all gets sorted properly! lol Veronica is definitely doing her best for her kids. At least for now, if Walter decided to go on with it, nothing happened, good or bad. lol
JerBr - Good seeing with us again! March 16th is definitely a red letter day in my AUs! lol hehe No, no bets this time around. Only 3 of them knew about the prediction and two of them hasn't mentioned it to the 3rd. lol Glad to hear all is well with you! Excited to hear you are still writing and looking forward to you sharing the new work as well as reposting the old stories! I'm sure LouBe will be happy with the reposting even if they aren't exactly the same as what was posted. Not sure how to get the stories Marie Mac saved to you. Without a private account somewhere, wouldn't want to reveal sensitive information publicly.
To the Adventure! -Tim