Thursday - cement arrives

When I arrived I shot a picture through the trees from the street to see the grand event unfolding as the last pour for the main floor walls takes place. Couldn't help taking a picture of the phrase on the cement truck just for kicks.

A close up view of the process to pour the walls entails...cement is pumped through the pipe and guided along as the walls are slowly filled a small layer at a time. Another has to help the cement settle down into the wall, especially when the cement is a little too dry for such a pour as was the case on Thursday. Makes the process slower and drawn out.

It was great that the weather was dry, cold at the beginning of the day but got better as the day progressed. Making sure the cement packs thoroughly around the windows and doors.

The last foam block is in place...

First, this is the Russellville building were dad is assigned. The picture doesn't do it justice. It is such a picturesque scene with beautiful trees and a white fence surrounding the property. It invites such a sweet peaceful spirit just driving up to the building. This is taken from the backyard. You can tell there is a significant slope by the picture. Notice the bright blue sky! It was lovely that day.

This shows the front taken from the garage side of the house. The pour is scheduled for Thursday. Then the framing begins for the upper level above the garage, gables and roof for the entire house.

The garage now with the doors framed in looks like a house.

Another taken as I climbed on one of the many large boulders in the backyard which doesn't give the feel of the slope in this shot.

Main Floor progress

Here in the back yard some excavation had begun at the time I took this picture. Each and every bit of work brings wonderful progress. Getting rid of the huge piles of dirt and rock just outside in the backyard is exciting. The doorway you see on the lower level is garage storage which opens to the backyard. More of the large pile of dirt is disappearing being moved to the front yard for backfill up against the house. The house looks much larger when the basement is a walkout, wow!

Garage is now level and free of mud...that means no more pumping - yahoo! I should put a before and after picture to show the drastic difference where the wall of dirt once dropped off that we climbed (slid some days!) down into the work area as water was pumped or the waterproofing was attached, braces were put in place...many, many jobs down in that hole. It's thrilling. The wood floor you can see to the right in the garage is the new addition for extra storage (a.k.a. sewing room :) with the lower level open to the backyard for those of you yet to see it in person and understand what's what.

Soon we will no longer have to access the house using planks perched precariously (felt that way to me since I rarely have to use a plank!) over the dropoff down to the lower level of the house. The men make it look like a cake walk - but it isn't!

Encased in ice still

Just had to show the beauty of the grass close-up and personal as we saw it this morning. It will soon melt off and go back to the plain brown grass of the winter season as our temperatures rise today. So even though the weather has hampered work plans -might as well enjoy it.

Brrrr...ice today

I told some of you that we had lovely temperatures in the high 70's only two days ago...and now a much different story as pictures indicate. I had to go in through the passenger side door and push the drivers door open from the inside because the handle was not budging. By the time I got home from running an errand into town and back the icicles were much larger and much longer.

As we ran to the post office to drop off Jake's letters I jumped out of the car to capture the beauty of the Pine tree covered in ice. Probably could have gotten one a little more covered but I didn't want to tresspass and slip and fall in my rush to be quick!

This is the drivers side window looking in from the outside - cool huh? It actually wasn't a bad ice storm as the roads haven't been bad all day and it scraped off the windows relatively easily. We'll see what the night temperatures bring come morning, it could be worse. I believe the forecast was for warmer temps though.

Todays treasures from our day at the lot...

One of the MANY pieces of wood you could 'cut with a butter knife' that are strewn about the property. I think if we gathered wood all day long for a solid week we still wouldn't have the job done. That's not counting the two HUGE piles of timber taken down for the building of the house. Phew! One of those great jobs to keep kids busy - IF we had any at home to help anymore! But that's ok, I love being out in the yard and building a warm fire. As Joe worked on the walls, I pumped and rather than show you the actual pump - I'll share with you the scene the runoff created as it rippled along the stream.

I thought the color of the moss strewn edge which runs along the side of the stream is just so pretty on a winter day.

The picture of our backyard just doesn't do it justice, but it was so serene and pretty. There were two deer out here when we arrived this morning, dad saw them from the house and they promplty ran and jumped the fence that runs along the backyard when they heard us.

Sweet little nest someone must be missing from the safety of the branches above. It's so tiny.

Hello Jenna and Cory-

On our way home we were able to drive over to Cory and Jenna's house thanks to favorable weather conditions. We loved having a day to run around and look at baby things - we missed Cory who had to work, darn it. Look at that cute little tummy, she looks so cute pregnant!