02.23 | the countdown | pour [-4]

today we braced walls, plumbed walls, and put extra bracing inside the window bucks so they will not collapse under the pressure from the concrete. i worked on the window bucks--nailed pieces of wood together all afternoon. what a workout! my arm and shoulder are feeling their age this evening.

i slipped and fell twice today on the dirt slope at the end of the new entry ramp that was built on friday--i don't know if i was having an extremely 'off' kind of day or whether the new ramp just isn't working for me. hmmmmm...

the pour is thursday. the rest of the icfs are being delivered tomorrow, so its gonna be another "get-the-lead-out" kinda day. wednesday will be as well. we have so much yet to do to get ready.



02.16-17 | we're out of ICFs--happy birthday, Robert! (and Anna)

well, i suppose we were moving more swiftly than we thought. shortly after we began work yesterday (monday), we realized we were nearly out of ICFs. how did that happen?! each of us thought that there were more left. could some have been stolen? a possiblity. none of us were sure, but what we were sure of was that we would probably not be pouring concrete on thursday. darn! what a setback. Robert had to order more ICFs, and it was going to take 3-4 days before they could be delivered. so now, plan B. we'll regroup and just work on any and everything else--scabbing gaps, cleaning up and sorting the trash from the recyclables, plumbing walls, bracing walls, etc.

i had a cake yesterday for Robert and Anna, but it wasn't such a great day, so i decided today would be the better day. had to let the dust settle. i was getting the cake out of the back of my car. i took the lid off, and the cake fell face down in the grass. oh well, i picked it up, slapped it back on the tray, and decided to deal with the whole thing later. Kelsy and i had to go to Lowe's for some lumber, so first things first. when we got back, i decided to move forward with the birthday plans, and pulled the cake from the back of the car again. of course, the whole ordeal got a good chuckle from everyone. but who cares about a little grass and leaves. we all grabbed a fork and dug in. it was a happy birthday after all.


hahaha! a few more decorations never hurt.

we got our daily dose of fiber.


02.14 | happy valentine's day!

work started early at 8am--Anna showed up with some delicious blueberry muffins. we were working hard to try to finish, but it was evident that there was no way we could be totally ready for the pour on tuesday, so Robert informed us that the pour had been rescheduled to thursday. a little frustrating that we didn't finish, but a relief that we have a couple more days. and the crackhouse across the street--yes, there's a crackhouse--it was busted today. the whole scene was so surreal...like a movie. police cars parked in all directions in the street, thugs and druggies lying face down in the yard, police surrounding the house with pistols aimed--too much!! of course, our productivity went south quickly, and we were all peering out the windows and up on scaffolding to we wouldn't miss anything. we've never seen Robert move so quickly up a ladder to snag his view of the excitement. lol. i must say, that was the most excitement i've had on valentine's day in a looong time.

we all worked hard to get as far along on the ICF walls. now that we had all the walkboards and scaffolding installed, things are moving along rather swiftly.



02.09-13 | build 'em high!

the beams, braces, walkboards, and scaffolding were installed this week to finish out the ICF walls and prepare for the poor on tuesday. that is a whole project in and of itself! we had two different kinds of beams and braces, and one was not compatible with the other, so it became really tricky when we had both types in the same space and nothing seemed to be lining up and the walkboards were different heights. we had to rearrange a few pieces to make everything "jive", but we got there. on wednesday, we were able to restart with the ICFs--we have saturday and monday to finish. somethin' tells me we're not gonna...



02.07 | a beautiful saturday

we double-checked all the horizontal and vertical rebar to make sure nothing was missed. zip ties are important, so we double-checked for proper ties as well. the bracing is going up on monday, so we have to make sure that all the ICFs that the bracing will attach to are secure. the ICFs are getting high enough now that we need scaffolding to finish the walls.