The "hole" early in the morning...
The new foundation in the evening!
Here are the materials that were delivered later in the day. I guess it's a cinder block foundation; we weren't sure if it was going to be block or poured concrete.
Footings were poured today and we should have walls in the not to distant future! Both Brian and I went to work today so we missed all the excitement but I guess a remote controlled crane came and the boys called all the concrete, "mush." Our kitchen window is filthy with little boy face prints and hand prints; I guess it wouldn't take a detective to figure out where they are spending a lot of time these days!
It occurred to me recently that we never posted pictures of our dirt moving project from a few weeks ago. You are looking at the back of our garage and approximately 3 yards of dirt. After the garage was rebuilt in November 2004 we really needed to fill in the back. There was 6-8 inches of exposed foundation. Since the boys were born just a few weeks later it just never got done. We kept saying we should do it, but never did. This year was time. The stakes are supporting Brian's hops experiment and the clumps are a sedum ground cover. Eventually, this could look really nice!
(Brian) The renaissance has begun. 
At approximately 9:00am after taking the boys to the playground (they were up at 5:30am) we got the call that the digger was here. I practically ran home to see this thing with two boys clinging to their wagon.
Sweating and already hot, I pulled the boys into our neighbors yard and watched them as they tried to take in the digger.
For the most part the boys were a little scared of the digger and that is no
t a bad thing for what was going on.
It was neat to watch the bucket dig everything out. We forgot to trip the circuit breaker for the power to the garage and when he hit the power, there was a little spark. Ooops.
So begins a new list of items and I'll try and find a way to keep track of them. Today began the first day of no air conditioning. That was disconnected.
Today began also, the first day of no power to the garage, thanks to the spark. Today also began the first time that Andi is/was right with a prediction.
She said we would be without air conditioning for this project. I said they would simply move it. Well, they moved it alright, they moved it out of the way.
The boys and I spent most of the day watching the progress and conversing with Jeff, the excavator. I asked him if he ever dug up anything neat. As a fellow dude, I thought this job would cool if you dug up some treasures or dead bodies.
Well, as it turns out, he's dug up dead bodies before, but they were for graves. He said that during one job, his buddies buried an iron box that was all rusted and taped dollar bills on it. He thought he had dug up some hidden treasure. Too bad it was only a joke.
At the end of the day, we were left with a big hole and a big pile of dirt. The pile wasn't as big as our friends, Jeff and Bridget, but still a lot of dirt. We have one corner of our driveway that was cracked and tread marks from the tires all over the back yard. Luckily we were able to avoid hitting the patio, but just barely.
Tomorrow Kevin and the mason will be out. I'm not exactly sure what they'll be doing, but I imagine they'll be eying up the job. Kevin told us, that by the end of the week we could have a basement floor and wall. Next week he'll be on vacation, so nothing will be done, but that's ok since you want stuff to cure for a bit. Look for an update tomorrow.
***(Andi now writing in response to a comment left by Jeff) This is what was left for backfill...the other (approximately) 11 dump truck loads left as they got filled up. It was a constant rotation of dump trucks throughout the day. Kevin did make a comment about your dirt pile and how it sat there for months...hee hee hee
****(Andi still writing) I think I've written about my regrets in life before...I don't have many but one of them is planting Chinese Lantern behind the house. It's a weed by my definition and has been impossible to kill/get rid of the last few years. Today I turned to Kevin and said, "We are paying $XX,XXX for this addition, do you think you could kill the Chinese Lantern? It upsets me that the plant I hate the most might survive this construction project." He got the attention of the excavator and instructed him to shave the top 6 inches of the remaining flower bed. Excellent, although this is the most expensive Weed-B-Gone we've ever purchased.
Many weekends have been spent giving my plants away and transplanting. Many hours have been spent thinking and planning how this whole not having a kitchen is going to work. Many dollars have been spent already preparing the house and purchasing some appliances. We are ready.
Tonight I gave my plants in the backyard a good drink of water seeing as I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to water the next few months. Our spigot is right where the hole is going to be so that will make water problematic. We have the best neighbors, three have already offered to let us hook our house up to their house so that's probably what we'll be doing. I have shown great restraint this year in purchasing plants...I didn't purchase any. Only two hanging baskets; which will be easy to water. There aren't any planters of annuals on our property which is quite a change from last year.
Yesterday I hung clothes out to dry for what might be the last time this year...at least until we have new grass.
It's definitely a nervous excitement on my end. I'm trying to keep focused on the end result!
Today Andi and I cleaned the basement and garage today in anticipation of getting a hole installed in our back yard. We were making room and filling in spaces, while taking the opportunity to purge the basement and garage too. There was a knock on the door in the mid afternoon and it turned out to be the excavator, Jeff.
He was here to take a look at the site and get some measurements. He was kind of eying up the drive way and noticed our nice new concrete driveway. "Did Kevin talk to you about the driveway?"
"Yes," we answered him "we know that we may get the concrete all busted up."
"I'll bring some wood planks, maybe that will help a little."
"It's going to be a tight fit."
They must be bringing a rather large digger to be concerned about the width of the driveway. Also, our dirt pile won't be taken away immediately, as some of it will be needed for back fill. I think our entire back yard will be disrupted.
We asked if he was still coming tomorrow and said that they should be that be by 8:30. I think tomorrow will be a very exciting day.
We'll have a hole!
Cheap shitty replacement microwave creates disappointment among ranch owners.
I mean come on, I know I only paid like $40 bucks for this dam thing, but you'd think it should be able to pop a f@#$ing bag of popcorn. Consistently this thing has gotten more temperamental. Last night it took like 20 minutes to microwave two potatoes. I can't stand this already. I don't want to have to go out and buy a new new microwave just yet. WTF?
Kevin, please build us a new kitchen as the one we have right now is very inadequate. We have even less space now that our replacement microwave is taking up valuable real estate on our counter.
PS - we also have ants. This kitchen sucks.
The house is winning 1gozillian to none.
Wednesday began like any other for us. The routine was normal and we were all pretty much normal. I woke up at my normal 4:45 to go for a normal 5k run. Andi woke up 15 minutes later for a normal day of correcting papers or creating tests. The boys woke up at 6 and by 7 we were all hydrated with coffee and milk and happily watching Little Einsteins.
I left for work and shortly after getting settled in, the normal day turned out to be not so normal. Andi called, speaking rather frazzled, "the electricians are coming!"
"What? Who?" I said.
"The electricians are coming to move the power, they said they'll be here by 10. I don't know if I can take off of work. What should we do?"
"I'll call Kevin from OAR and find out what's going on."
As it turned out the electricians were indeed available today to come and move our power. See, if you can't tell from the picture, the main
power for the house is smack dab in the middle of where our new kitchen is going to be. That presents a problem if you're going to be prying thing off with large metal tools.
Luckily my boss is cool and told me to go home. I said I would dial in and reconnect, until they cut power that is.
I got home to a fleet of trucks (literally there were four trucks from this company) and two little boys playing outside pointing to all of the commotion going on. In this shot you can see the new junction box which is to supplement our already maxed out circuit breaker. They had to dig a small hole, trample our garden flowers and drill through the brick to get this installed. Don't worry, it looks a lot more put together no
w that it's done.
For most of the time they did a lot of putzing around, but I know there is a lot of putz work when it comes to power and electrical installation. After all, one small mistake and you're able to make light bulbs glow like Uncle Fester.
I was a little unsure if the boys would be able to nap while all of this stuff was going on. Soon after this picture the dudes took their own lunch break and at that time, the boys went down. They slept through the rest of the experience.
The dudes told me WE Energies would have to come out and verify their work before actually moving the power. So, I was a little surprised when they said they were just going to move the power now. We did end up losing power for about 1.5 hours which wasn't that big of a deal. I read on the couch while the boys slept.
The electricians were here for most of the day and didn't end up leaving until about 3:30, right when the boys woke up from their nap.
They ran to the front windows to wave to the big trucks leaving.
After speaking to our contractor, Kevin, he indicated our dig date is still slated for this coming Monday. He didn't want to firm up any days until the weather and electricians were done. As you can see the only thing remaining to move is the cable.
From the looks of the weather, we should be all clear for the next couple of days. I hope everything works out. I think I'll be having a mental health day on Monday.
