Found my boots

Today is Sunday. The sun is out as it was yesterday. Yesterday I did a little garden clean up.

I came by today to transplant a couple of kale plants from a neighbour into my greenhouse. I placed them in an area that gets water from the hole in the roof. There is still no news from the seeds I planted awhile back.

But alas.... One of the crew was on site removing the metal forms..... on a weekend!

Hey my house walls look pretty snazzy! 

At the front, the ground will be at the level of the low concrete, (not the footing), so it will be a small step down to the patio in front of the basement door.

So you can see some crocuses are up in my herb garden. There is oregano, thyme, rosemary, a few strawberry plants, some other flowers, and I planted some garlic in there... It's a busy place.

Yesterday I cut back some of the grass along the fence line and found lots of irises!

Today I dug out some more of the grass and found some little ceramic boots.

And lots more flowers!

So tomorrow I will check in at the end of the day to see the progress.

I expect all the forms will down and put away for the next house build. What a great idea of having the reusable forms. In the sun the front cement wall almost looks like wood.... It's not.

As the sun begins to set in the west ... It's time to head home to my cottage by the sea.

A few more months until I can watch this from my deck.

WALL-E

Well folks we got walls!

The weather was good yesterday, but for some reason the cement truck was not available or something out of the hands of my builder.

Today there was some rain which turned to light rain and then even stopped for some time. I missed all the excitement. Apparently the arm on the truck almost did not reach to the back wall. But it did!

So now we wait for things to cure....

And then the dismantling of the supports and and the forms.

You can see the footings for the ceiling support beams.

And then outside the house you can see the footing for the support for the front deck.

The rest of the front area will be poured when the basement slab goes in a little later in the project.

Brace yourself...

The forecast said some rain was due and the update from the builder was we will pour tomorrow.

I dropped by the site anyhow... To see that the deer had been there first!

The crew were on site cleaning up and putting a few more things in place.

I ran a few errands and then headed home. 

A little while later the sun was actually out! Why could we not be pouring today? I had to go back just to see if maybe, by some stretch they were pouring.....

Okay so it was not quite sunny on site and the crew had left.

The pillar footings were back in place.

And there was more bracing behind those 8 foot walls.

And so we wait.. 

Hopefully for another day clear of rain...

Time to bud in....

Well it poured rain last night and by morning the sky dried up. Forecast suggests that much rain is still to follow in the next few days. Concrete will not be poured until things dry up just a bit.... Hopefully that will be Tuesday or Wednesday.

The crew were on site today and I learned they were indeed on site yesterday.

So it's hurry up and wait...

Meanwhile elsewhere on the property the flowers have poked out from the ground and the trees are showing buds.

The yellow plum tree is looking good...

Walnut tree

The cherry tree...

The hazelnut tree

Oops forgot to take a picture of the fig tree!

And it looks like the apple tree just might produce apples this year....

Italian plums...

Time to sit under my plum tree and picture my house.....

Some moments it's a huge house and some moments I can see the small house it will be. 

So many details to work out still.....

Rain.....with rainfall warning

Yesterday was light rain again. I stopped by mid morning to check in.

More rebar is finding its way into the walls...

The wood shows where the top of the cement will be poured. 

And the wood below shows where the inside wall will sit.

This wall construction sure is complex....

The crew working..

I took a walk and let them work without an audience..

Back to site....

Looking good...

Okay so I had places to go and was not able to return before the sun went down...

Today the sky opened up and it poured... The sun did actually show up midday for a few hours. 

Maybe the crew showed up again... Or maybe they accomplished a lot yesterday... Before the sun set today I dropped by to check on the progress...

Look the inner walls are almost done.

You can see how thick the walls will be in this 2x8 construction.

But it was raining again... And as I sit posting this it is pouring rain again.

Maybe it could just rain at night and we can get in the pour soon...

Almost as good as figs.

It's time to check in on the build today.....

Again a day with a little light rain here and there.

The footing forms and concrete went in fast. The walls are coming along, but slower. You can see how the cement wall will step down following the grade of the property.

The crew is almost finished the outside forms.

The rebar will still need to be extended and then a whole other inside form wall will need to be built.

I drove around the block to view things from my backyard neighbour's view.

Oh my god, nevermind the view.... look kiwis!!! How cool is that?! 

Almost (but not) as cool as figs!

I came back later after the crew was done for the day. And after eating a kiwi!

... To walk around inside.

I know... There are only so many pictures of this you can take...

The cold room will go in this corner.

And in the far back corner will be roughed in plumbing in case I want a bathroom in the basement some day.

Getting there.......

It won't be the Canada Arm... But

On and off light rain today, but the crew were busy.

So here is where my small house starts looking pretty big...

Look at the metal reusable forms in place for the back wall. 

The forms are actually 9 ft high but the wall will only be 8ft..

There is still much to do before the walls are poured... 

More rebar set into place and then another side to the form.

When they pour the cement into the walls they will use a big arm. 

It would kinda be difficult with a wheelbarrow!

With the view from the back, you can see that most of that 8ft will be underground. It will only really look two story from the front.