the evolution of excavation...

to begin, our excavator is gone. he was, in no order, a poor communicator, a bad project manager, and a lousy project bidder. he had two speeds: glacial and 5 cans of Red Bull fast. unfortunately, we only saw the Red Bull speed a few times. in his defense, when he did work he was a good equipment operator. he had a good eye for level. the final setback came this past weekend when he communicated that he'd be over at 9am on saturday. well, let's just say that after he became 36 hours late, sarah called and left a message to come over, clean up his stuff, and get out. she arrived at the house on monday morning to find him working [he was 48 hours late] and told him to leave. we'll see where we end up...

with that, i wanted to post some images from where we are, and where we hope to get. i'll start with a tablet PC sketch from our buddy bob...












this is where we are:












the grades look good, though much work needs to be done to complete. sounds like we'll probably get Jose and his crew to complete the job. we're moving forward - framing material is set to be delivered tomorrow. Jose believes it will be dried in within 2 days, and then the pad will be poured for the addition. he's choosing to do it in reverse order to avoid any differences in slab height. i think it's a great idea, because we're dealing with 2 different floor heights in the dining room/family room currently. i'll add more as things take shape...

backyard carnage...

plumbing a-go-go

image showing the plumbing in the new addition. the plumber, pat, will return to stub in the drain for the outdoor shower.

looking down the north side of the house. the PEX water plumbing is already buried. 3" waste line shown, and pat is returning today to install a drainage line for surface water.

new entrace wall...

the wall is nearly complete. walkway is to be poured next week. sarah is searching for some large numbers to be placed left of the windows...












bad image of the backyard because of shadows, but you can see the amount of earth and concrete that's been removed...

progress @ 1817...

master addition. the back wall of our bedroom will be cut out, and we will gain a larger closet, desk area, and master bath.

new shower in the front bath. there will a door from both Gracie's room and the new guest room [formerly the front room].













new entrance walkway.

TransRockies finish...

Mark Thurston and me at the finish of the 2008 TransRockies Run. Jack + Gracie ran with us through the chute...

test...

test note to figure this blogging thing out...