Can You Dig It?

This week-end was chore weekend. Ed spent much of Sunday picking up the job site. Just like housework, its not flashy or particularly rewarding, but once in a while, it's got to be done. The debris pile is getting bigger and bigger. Anyone remember Pa Kettle? Well, we gotta take that stuff to the dump someday. He also moved a stack of 2x6s up and inside the new second story, which by the way,(cue in Paul Simon's "One Man's Ceiling is Another Mans Floor") I never know whether to call that the roof or the floor. But up they went anyway. He used the forklift to hike them up most of the way, then dragged them up the rest. The huge pile of lumber that was delivered at the beginning of this project is slowly dwindling away. Then he got the plans and the spray paint and figured out where the posts will need to go front and back and marked them.

Monday was Errand Day. Errand Day is always kind of an event, because it takes such a chunk of time. Get up (0700), have breakfast and walk the dog (0830), mail comes at 0900. The drive to Longview takes an hour, so we got there about 1015 with the road construction delay. Lumber yard, Home Depot, Dr's office, lunch, fuel (ouch), start back at 1315. Another appointment at 1500, and finally home by 1600. So THEN Ed can start back to work. Oy!

Out came the tractor, and he started digging. At our last house, an old Victorian, Ed jacked up the house and re-trenched for new footings and foundation by hand. This is much easier. You know how you have that sticker on your side mirror on the car that says "Caution, objects are closer than they appear"? When you're hunched down ready to take the photo, that bucket looks like something out of a bad 1950s monster movie. But man, can it chew holes in the ground in record time! Concrete? No problem. Tree roots, easy. Sure beats doing it by hand! By the end of Monday Ed had the four footings in the back all dug out.

Tuesday morning he was back at it. He moved the rest of the 2x12s up to the second floor, then dug the front four footings, fine tuned them all by hand. He cut and bent the rebar to fit. Then we zip-tied them together. Ed then installed the rebar with the adobe blocks. Next week? Cement!