Is it the weather, the construction, or the economy that has this redbud hedging its bets by putting out flowers and seed pods at the same time?
And speaking of the economy, do you think someone should explain to this fellow what happens when you caught with your feet too far apart?
Finally, is it just me, or does this make you think of the “Dukes of Hazard?” It’s just something about seeing a large vehicle airborn…
My favorite rock star came back out last Saturday to get us schooled. She studied the rocks, decided what order they should go in and labeled them.
It was like a paint by numbers kit only harder.
We did our best. Armed with a creaky bob cat with a claw and another bobcat with a set of forks, we grappled them into place. Okay, technically I didn’t do any grappling, but I did supervise. And I took pictures.
We did a great job, I think, but we ran out of rock. So good old builder Gary, also known now as Gary the rock star, went and found us just enough rocks to finish the job.
I had already bought some small rocks to fill in gaps with, so we got another shipment of rocks and got back to work.
Things had gotten pretty muddy, so we had a forklift fireman’s brigade, passing the rocks from the machine that could lift them off of the truck to the one that could schlepp them through the mud.
Then it was time for a load of gravel to fill behind the rocks and some fill dirt back on top of that.
When Jason and Tinker arrived back on the scene, the back filling went a little faster. Maybe that was because Jason wanted to be done with us once and for all. Just look at him urging Tinker on here.
Finally, we got it done!
I can’t wait to plant it and get all sorts of things growing in it, above it and where ever.
Meanwhile, everyone wants to be a rock star!
Here are Nathan and his back side seat driver making a tree well with some of the rocks. And if we run out, another rock star has revealed his secret stash:
There are some nice ones in there amongst the bramble.
But the bramble is no match for a Kubota.
Don’t you just love a man with a tractor?
Did you know they came labeled? I certainly did not!
But maybe that was something special just for Jason and his crew.
Here you can see the pipe coming out of the base of the retaining wall to connect into the “in” hole of the tank.
When the concrete product company brought the tank and set it in, it took me a minute to figure out why they were all standing on it. Then I realized that they had a level on the top and were trying to make sure that the tank was sitting square and plumb.
The lines had already been dug and had the pipes put in them, so once they set the tank and hooked it up, all they needed was an inspection and it was time to cover it all up.
We are taking a bit of a gamble with this hickory at the end of the drain field. The City made us pay for destroying it, but Jason insisted that his septic drain field was not going to hurt that tree. It’s such a big, beautiful tree, that we decided to risk it. Hopefully it will enjoy its new irrigation system and thrive.
And as soon as the inspector came and blessed everything, the tank and the field were covered up, smoothed over, mulched and another batch of silt fencing was added with a little hay on top for good measure.
The dirt piles are gone and the back yard is done – until we can landscape it.
Monday the well drilling rig arrived, although it was too wet to get started. On Tuesday, they got started and got one well drilled. Yesterday they got another drilled and today, well number three was drilled. Three down and Four to go.
The guys ran into a spot of trouble with the grout. You see, for the geothermal wells, they now have to fill the wells up with grout after they put the tubes in. This machine mixes the grout and forces it through a tube to the bottom of the well until the well is filled.
The sand that had been delivered to them had rocks in it and the rocks were clogging the machine. But they took it apart, removed the rocks and soon had the well filled up:
Doesn’t look like much does it? Hard to believe that a messy patch of goo and a loop of tube will replace a furnace and a condenser unit.
This became a familiar sight on the site last week. I almost started chanting “U-S-A", but I thought someone might hear me and think I was strange.
The first order of business was to pour the retaining walls on either side of the lower driveway.
The truck had all these attachments (don’t you just love attachments?) to extend the chute so that a pumper truck wasn’t needed.
The wall crew came back out to manage the flow into these last two walls. I think the fellow in the overalls was the one who revealed a bit too much of himself in my previous post. I think the overalls are an improvement.
Then it was time to bring in the slab crew and go horizontal.
They worked in patchwork bits, according to what needed to set first. Here you see them smoothing out the bottom of the elevator shaft. This will be the pit for the mechanicals if we ever put an elevator.
But before they did the elevator pit, they had poured the garage floor. Each level: basement, garage, and then carport, has a slight change in elevation to keep the water out of the house.
Then while those bits set up, they moved all the way over to the edge and started pouring and raking and smoothing.
As I was admiring their work, I noticed one of the fellows making marks in the wet concrete:
I let my mind run with it for a while. Something from the da Vinci Code? Where they buried the guy who didn’t chip in for donuts? X marks the spot…
Then I asked them. The truth was a little less fantastic. Those mark the places of bits of rebar that stick up to show the elevation. They are the guidelines for keeping everything level and square with the world.
In other places, they took pains to not have things level. Here in the garage, they put wood in the concrete and carefully sloped the garage door opening down so that water would run out and not in.
Meanwhile, as their shadows grew longer, they worked away at the basement slab, taking pains to smooth it.
Builder Gary arrived just in time to supervise the placement of the steel supports for the “moment frame” that will make the pretty brick arches in carport/party pavilion structurally sound.
The garage floor is now solid enough to remove the framing and let it flow into the carport, where the steel is now wearing concrete shoes.
Then just when you didn’t think these concrete guys could have any more fun, they pull out the whirly machine!
A few final touches with the hand smoothers and the job is all done!
And a few days later…
the upper slab is done also. The walls are backfilled and gravel is on the lower driveway. A concrete example of a job well done.
It all started with this.
Actually, it all started with moving the mulch pile and revealing the drop off next to my soon to be next door neighbors driveway.
Then we bought this boulder and others for a temporary barrier, thinking we could use them later in landscaping – maybe even a fabulous wall like those I saw while visiting an amazing garden in Alabama:
So, this is probably where it all began.
Then Gary saw this:
What’s a girl to do? If you want a rock wall and a rock yard is having a 50% off sale, it’s time for a field trip!
Happily one of my favorite rock experts came along to guide me. If you are ever in this situation and you have a friend who buys herself boulders for her birthday, you know who to take on the field trip. Gary stopped by to approve our selections (and add a few tons to the pile) and before we knew it, we had a flat bed truck bringing boulders!
It was so exciting!
Then it was time to unload and start making a wall.
Heath got the fork lift and unloaded.
And Gary got his bobcat and start positioning them.
And my favorite rock star supervised:
She looks diminutive among all those boulders, but believe me, this lady really rocks! I am so fortunate to have her help in this endeavor.
By the end of the day, we had placed about as many rocks as we could without fetching the last load from the rock yard.
Using the forklift and the bobcat, each rock was wrestled over to the wall and nestled into position.
Can you see where we’re headed with it?
By the time we back fill and grade the bank down to the rocks, get ferns growing in the cracks and moss on the surface, with cascading plants spilling over the top, it might even look like this:
At least that’s the inspiration for all this craziness.
I guess it remains to be seen if the final product rocks or if it’s totally stoned.
