The excavator texted about seven this morning to say he was on the way, so I headed on to the job site. I did some last minute preparations and they showed up about eight with a tracked skid and mini-ex. I showed them the layout of everything and they started moving dirt, a lot of it. One site was close to level and the other wasn’t. So they were able to level one up, but the other will have two steps in the footings. One of the guys and I went to lunch at the Goat Market and after that I laid out the footings and they dug. That took until about four. I left there, went back to the cottage to pack up, then drove home. My parents were there when I arrived, and everybody was finishing up dinner. Luke stretched out bath and bed time and I have been reading a little. It was a draining day.
A good day of work.
This morning I left the house at the same time Liz and Luke departed for High Hopes. I drove to Manchester and bought ground plastic at Home Depot. I wanted block sealer as well, but they didn’t have five gallon buckets of it. My next stop was at the market in Pelham for a little breakfast, which I soon regretted. I tried to take a nap upon reaching the cottage, but could only lie on the couch thinking. Finally at about one I headed over to the job site. It was still pretty wet but I was able to remove a lot of tree debris. I also did the initial staking for the excavators. I worked until nearly dark because around four o’clock the excavator texted to say he’s coming tomorrow and I wanted to be fully ready for him.
A different kind of productive.
After dorking around this morning I drove down to the surplus store in Woodbury where I bought 360 sheets of OSB at a cost of over $12,000. That represented a huge savings over other vendors, but it still stung. From there I drove to Lowe’s in Shelbyville for rebar ties and chairs. I drove home as quickly as I could, and made it home well before dinner so that I could play with Luke a bit.
Still not sunny, still not productive.
On the bright side, it didn’t rain today. After using the internet in the library parking lot I went to Eric’s house to help him with a little project in his kitchen. He is getting granite countertops among other upgrades, and needed some help getting ready for the guys who are coming to measure for the granite. After that I drove down to Dixie Salvage in Fort Payne. I wanted to see what they had in terms of flooring, vanities, and other materials. I was a little disappointed but still got a couple of flooring samples. If nothing else it was nice to drive for a bit. I went to the Goat Market once back on the Mountain and chatted with Eric and others for a bit. After leaving there I returned to the cottage and have been relaxing and reading.
Wet and chilly, but good.
I got to the cottage about 11:35 last night and was pretty exhausted. This morning the block guy called about 6:40 to set up a meeting for today. I stayed in bed a little while longer then went to the job site. It was incredibly nasty there. I did come cutting and moved some logs with the tractor, but it was so muddy that I was sliding all over the place. The block guy came about 9:45 and we had a great meeting. His price is good and he will pour the footings too. After he left I grabbed my chainsaw and headed on as well. Back at the cottage I just relaxed, ate some, went with my dad to get gas, tried to nap, and talked with my mother. This afternoon I took it pretty easy. I did some work on my materials lists and starting looking at paint colors for the next two houses. This evening I have been reading a new spy novel.