Breaking Ground

Blake Writes:

After weeks and months of waiting – waiting for the drawings to be finished, waiting for building permit approval, waiting for bids from subcontractors – we at long last feel as though we are starting to build a house.  We heard the satisfying rumble of heavy equipment as our lot underwent a bit of regrading around the building footprint and as a long trench was plowed from our water meter and our new electrical pole to the point where they will enter the house.  We even put up our first structure: a Rubbermaid shed to house our burgeoning collection of garden tools.  It took half a day to build the foundation and another four hours or so to assemble.  For a plastic building it looks pretty nice, and the termites won’t be interested in it.  I was still putting in the final screws when Deborah immediately took to prettifying it with little flower beds.

I also now have a framer and a foundation guy picked, so all the major subcontractors are lined up – or at least the ones I need right now.  I’m sure we’ll have our share of more periods of waiting to come, but right now it feels like progress.

 Our neighbor Fred helps with the excavating.

 The big trench - not the work of a giant gopher, just the underground path for electrical and water lines.  In the meantime our neighbor Alex wants to play World War I.

 Concrete is poured to set the meter pole.

 Deborah tackles the encroaching greenery from the neighbor's unkempt tennis court.

The new shed - with Deborah's gardening touches.  We could almost live in it - which is good because it's almost all we can afford here.