Now that the concrete is poured into the lower walls of our house it is time to backfill around the outside and bury most of the walls inside as well in order to bring the floor level up to what the city required. We will use a coase sand on the inside as it packs well and is easy for the plumber to dig the trenches he needs for the plumbing. We will need about 500 cubic yards of material for the task. We got seven loads of sand delivered before the road was closed between our place and the gravel pit because of an accident. More sand will come tomorrow.
As I put the fill into the carport area I quickly learned how tricky operating a bobcat can be and how quickly things can go suddenly awry. I got a little close to the edge and in an instant slid precariously into a post leaning the bobcat dangerously towards an area not yet filled. I knew ell enough to stop before I made things worse. It took a whole lot of head scratching, a plan of action and some strong pulls with the pickup to get things back on track. Bobcats are HEAVY machines! I learned my lesson about soft edges and bobcats real well. No pictures were taken during the adventure. Only one scoop of sand actually got dumped inside the foundation before we ran out of material.
Since the sand supply had dried up we kept working on other things. We had trasplanted five small trees from beside our driveway to make room for a new parking area near the new house. I prepared the ground and then put in the gravel to raise that area to match the elevated driveway.
Out by the shop Haley and Peter were working on the window bucks and making good progress (when they weren't trying to get a bobcat unstuck). Most of the smaller windows are now done and ready to install into the LOGIX forms as we stack them up. These bucks will act as forms for the concrete we pour inside.
It was a great day of progress with enough adventure to make it memorable.
-grampa dan
