Another inspection passed, sub floor down.

The building inspector ran late. No matter, after the sign off Mike went to work on getting the decking down. We love how he works and doesn't cut corners. The decking is attached with an adhesive, then tacked with an air gun and then screwed down to the joists. It's as solid as a concrete floor. Too bad most of our blog followers are out of the area. Don't know if he travels, but we'd recommend him to anyone looking to have work done. Mike Newell is a real craftsman.

Ready for the next inspection.

Our spectacular weather is really making the building project move along smoothly. Today Mike was able to get on the sill plates, two supporting beams and the floor joists. The inspector is scheduled for tomorrow. Once that is done he will lay down the flooring and start on the studs. We are so lucky to have Mike as our contractor/builder. His work is spot on and for a one man show, he really covers a lot of ground in one day.

Oso Lumber made a delivery today.

Thankfully, the truck arrived just in time for the kids to watch the unloading, before they had to be up at the frontage road to meet Mom. We asked Vance if he wanted to watch outside or from the living room window. For him and Arya the living room window was perfect. Out of harms way, no noise and full view. Bill and I didn't know until the truck arrived that Mike was using Oso Lumber. Those of you from the Arlington know the where abouts of the home office. We always start our project lumber search at the Oso Lumber yard in Sedro Woolley first. It was really intriguing to watch how lumber is delivered today. No more having a bundle sliding off the truck as the bed lifts.

This three wheeled fork lift is awesome. Here it is unloading the 30 foot floor joists and because it can raise way up, there wasn't a problem to move them between our house and Kathy's garage to the back yard area.

This final shot is a bit blurry. Today was one of those days when I found the Nikon had been left on and the battery was dead. The old Kodak let me take a couple pix and then reported the memory card was full. Holy moly. I tried to do a few fast deletes, so I'm just happy I was able to record these few pix of today's events. Oh yeah, while I was rushing out to get a pic of the fork lift that hangs on the back of the truck, I was also trying to keep three dogs and two kids in the house. I think that accounts for the blur, LOL.

Building a curtian drain is serious business.

Bill and Vance spent about five hours outside today. No rain, perfect weather. Vance is a lighter Rainman, per Ty and us. He loves driving the tractor and at 3 1/2 he's awesome. I was inside keeping track of Ayra. I should have had a video of how well Vance handles the tractor. You can see by the look on his face that he takes working with Pa very seriously.

Pouring the foundation.

Today's foundation pour was way too much fun. As we've readied for it, Bill and I have shared memories of "How it was done in the old days" stories. There was the trusty wheel barrow. A pile of sand/gravel. Concrete in I think bags even way back. A water hose. A hoe to stir it up. The trick was to get the amount of dry and wet to mix like a thick milk shake. When just right it was time to move that heavy wheel barrow to "the place." Sometimes, it could be a long haul, because the water hose wasn't long enough to really get to the project and why would you get a new or extra hose just for one job, lol.

I was fascinated watching the pumper truck unfold. Once stretched out, it has along reach. The driver of the pump truck operates it by remote control. I didn't get a good pic of the remote. Our only regret today was that Vance wasn't here to watch everything and especially see the man controlling the pumper.


Then, when the pump cranks up, Mike put it in the forms and wa-la, things began to fill. The truck showed up a little before 10 this morning and by about 10 minutes to 11 they were done. Amazing.

Foundation forms and inspection done.

The rebar is in place. The forms are up. The inspection passed with flying colors. Tomorrow we'll see the cement and boom trucks.

As amazing as the progress is, there's another thing that has both Bill and I wondering what's up. Anyone that has been to the farm knows that being greeted by our girls is usually noisy. Normally, any vehicle that approaches is also greeted with a noisy round of barks as a welcome or a warning to us that someone is here. Well, Mike, his truck, his tool noises, etc, don't even get a rise out of any of them. It's rather baffling since this afternoon as Bill returned from his walk, Penny saw him round the corner and they all went off like cheap clocks.

Day two.

Today Mike was busy with foundation forms. Vance met Mike this morning and liked him immediately. He would head out the door to check on progress. I don't think it got above 50° today, so playing outside was limited. No one has figured it out, but even with saws, drills and other construction noises, the dogs are surprisingly quiet. Even Mike commented on how quiet they are and of course about that time Penny went off like a cheap clock. We'll see if they remain quiet and polite.