All braced up and ready for the cement pour TOMORROW!
another picture by Toni

Walls back up!

On Saturday we got the long East wall forms (for the basement) back up. What a project! Because the forms interlock like leggos... part of the South and North wall forms also had to be dismantled.

Today we put the West short wall form back together... and got most of the bracing done. We were racing against the impending storm with hail and tornado warnings heavy on our minds!

Luckily the storm passed over us with brisk winds and some rain. We were pretty much soaked by the time we finished the last of the bracing.

The cement pump is scheduled for my birthday... June 13nth!

On Wednesday (Rich's birthday!) we had a storm that included rain, hail, and a great gust of wind.

We were working on bracing our basement forms (for the cement pour)... but hadn't finished. Down came the rain.. and nickel sized hail... and then a great gust of wind knocked down our forms on the long East wall and short West wall.

We worked all day yesterday breaking down these walls and piling the styrofoam blocks in piles of good, usuable, and broken... Today we will rebuild those walls. Unfortunately... rebuilding means that part of the good walls must be dismantled because these foam blocks fit together like leggos in a pyramid fashion.

Please pray for light... soft... gentle wind while we get this up and braced!

This ladder looking thingy goes on top of the forms to stabalize them.
another picture by Toni

Wind damage from the hail storm on 6/1/05. A great gust of wind blew down our basement cement forms on the short West wal and long East wall...
another picture by Toni

The view facing West with the mountains in the background... on the right side is a huge dirt pile from digging out the basement.
another picture by Toni

Below are some long awaited pictures!

We're almost done putting together the forms for the basement walls. They will be 8 feet tall when done and braced to the hilt!!!

We've been having some wind problems... The wind can be strong here in the Spring and we've had wind damage to our forms more than several times... unfortunately.

The boys got out of school last week (May 25th) and have been helping Daddy every day while I have been working on my business.

From atop a huge dirt pile looking North toward our Russin Olive forest.
another picture by Toni

The forms will go up 8 feet high!
another picture by Toni

The forms are half way up! This is the view from the back of he house.
another picture by Toni

So what happens when 2 geminis...

attempt to fortify the foundation forms?

One gemini (the female version... me!) gets stuck in the house pit because the male gemini left no escape route!

Forms being put together for the foundation!
another picture by Toni

Forms continue to go up...

OK, it's beginning to look like something! The foundation forms are in process. They're actually going up pretty fast.

We're back at it again...

It's so time to get going again!!!!

So... last week we were down the property measuring and measuring... deciding where the marks should go... because the next step is to put up the forms for the basement walls!

Got all the marking done (in pencil)... then it rained and snowed for 4 days... markings all gone!

The snow has melted... the winds have calmed down... clear skies...

Back we go to redo the measuring and marking... in permanent marker this time. Also put down the chalk lines... may have to redo that again.

OK... now to pray for less wind so that we can get the forms together for the basement walls.

More later!

Finished with the pit run...

Earlier this week, Richard finished distributing the rock and gravel (pit run). It is about a foot thick covering the dirt within the footings.

We just received the stuff (that's a very technical word!) to build the basement walls. But before that gets put together we must measure and mark the footings for where the walls will go.

The work continues...

Strip off the wood supports from the footings... remove all the nails...

Loads and loads of rock and gravel...

Next task:
Distribute rock and gravel inside of footings. Rich has already started on this huge task.

The boys, our niece Jennifer (age 8), and I were helping with this. We decided to pay the kids to help. They each earned enough to buy their way into movies to see Sponge Bob.

Footings finished!

Finished the rest of the footings today. Actually, we were done shortly after noon.

It went much smoother this time because we weren't worried about the footings blowing out.

What a nice day for cement work. It's about 60.

We had a little extra cement left over... so we ran down to our little house and put in part of a walk way to my back door. We'll finish that off in one of the next pours.

What a joy it will be not to have all that mud and dirt tracked into the house by the kiddos.

The Cement truck comes...

Oh my goodness...
Yesterday the cement truck came at 1pm. We were still putting together the footing that runs down the middle of the house....(thought we could get it done before 1pm!).

We poured the cement for the footings on the East and part of the South side of the house...
Helped came just in a nick of time to help us brace the forms... need I say more?

I could barely get out of bed this morning I am so sore and achy from yesterday! I'm not used to all that manual labor!

Today...
Brace... brace... brace... brace... the forms...

Lessons.

• Brace forms really good! Those wooden stakes are useless! (At least the ones we used!)
• Have the cement truck bring less than 12 yards the first pour... Brace the forms...
• Next time, if there is... a next time... or if anyone asks... Hire someone to do the cement work! Oh, did I mention... Brace the forms really good?

Our new house...

Here's what it will look like!

http://www.williampooledesigns.com/SearchEngine/results_Plans.asp?ID=187

Footing casings are level

Rich has spent the last couple days leveling out the footing casings. We're using this neat Form-A-Drain stuff.

I was joking with Rich the other day that he was just playing with big leggos. The forms go together really easily.

The plan is to order cement this week for the footings!