here comes the rain again

Maybe you too hear the voice of Annie Lenox when you read the title. Anyway, here are the pictures from Monday's work before several days of rain hit. These are the "footers" for the foundation. We'll be securing the original house to the addition with some properly placed re-bar. Here's to hoping we don't continue to settle and patch the same cracks we've been patching for 4 years.

pictures speak for themselves

the basement and crawl spaces have been dug and the footers are being poured tomorrow - pray that the rain holds off

YIPEE!

Finally, after 5 weeks it begins! Last week the bobcat took out all of our shrubery and some scrubby trees as well as the back patio and walk. So, it looked like a footprint of the house in dirt. But today, the excavation began. I think the pictures speak for themselves this time.

SOME progress

Well, it's not house progress, but these kids are cuter than any house project. Just thought I'd share a few recent pics - Bishop is having his first rice cereal in these shots. Oh, and no comments about the bumbo seat or it being on the table - we are fully aware of the recall info and do not leave our children on table tops -- only for pictures : )

Actually, there has been something done at the house. Brent went by today and the basement carpet and pad are GONE! The drywall appears to be ok. Not sure where the carpet is though...

We made tremendous headway in the rental today. Brent cleared and organized the garage so that the kids can now get to their bikes and we can park in the garage AND he programmed the garage doors - YIPEE!!

update

Well, the weather has still not been cooperating, so no further work on the house. On the flip side though, apparently since the demo, water has been getting into the basement and now there is standing water in the basement. I have not yet seen the damage, but Brent called to tell me about it. It looks like our plan to not redo the entire house is quickly changing because now we'll have to re-carpet and re-drywall (and add repaint) the basment. UGH! not fun. Might as well let you all in on the other "bad" news thus far - we had to replace the battery for the thermostat and the hold button was not pushed, so it automatically reverted to 70 degrees -- for the better part of 3 weeks we've been heating the backyard. And lastly, before the port-a-john was brought over someone urinated in the downstairs bathroom, but there was no water to flush the toilet since they were demolishing the back of the house and the water had been turned off; now the house smells rancid. All of these things are just annoyances, but when you put two OCD people like Brent and me on a project, these annoyances are very bothersome. Send a little prayer our way that we stay positive and focused!

The Hatchling

Today started off like a good day for excavation. But then about one hour after school began the schools decided to close early for impending freezing rain. Of course that inch of ice never happened.
Brent still takes the same route home from work; that way he can pick up the mail or recycling bins and check on progress. He said the CAT excavator hatched a CAT "cat bob" as Bennett calls it. A cute little bob cat has cozied up to the honking excavator in the driveway. Big progress seems close enough to touch...

a change in weather

Apparently all we needed was a little change in the weather for a couple of days for things to move ahead. Last week was wet and snowy and, of course, cold. This week it's just cold, so the work can begin again.

First, yesterday the guy took out most of the ONE tree we're loosing for this project. It's bittersweet because we hated to loose any trees, but if one had to go, this one was the one we didn't like and don't mind seeing cut.

Now, I say he took out "most" of the tree because obviously one does not pay to grind out a stump when one will be digging 10ft into the ground in that exact spot. So, the tree removal was a pretty good deal on the ole budget.

Second, Carl said to me today that he'd been waiting on the "mobilizing" phone call. Well, apparently the guys forgot to call him because there is huge CAT machine parked in our driveway. BTW, Bennett was thrilled beyond belief to see his favorite thing right in his own driveway! Looks like there'll be some serious digging going on very soon - as long as the weather continues to hold out.

Can't wait to get some pictures of excavation! Check back soon. Oh, and I added some pics to previous posts, so scroll through again.