Confident Concrete

Apparently an overconfident concrete/cement (?) truck spent some extra time out at the property.
Wish I could've seen it being pulled out. Heard it was quite an ordeal.
Glad our builder warned them not to go where they went, because their extra time did not turn into our extra time. And in the concrete world, time is money.

Yesterday & Today Ap"pier"ances

The soil on our property is quite "loamy." Really it's like very fine river sand. There are also a few spots with natural springs. They discovered this while clearing the lot. It was HOT, HOT, HOT and there were spots that stayed muddy for days. At first the builder thought that we might just have some water pockets - water trapped in the sand because of the clay below - but when they didn't evaporate over time, he knew we had springs. Our friends a few hundred feet away confirmed this when they started telling stories about getting stuck in soft spots on their yard equipment.

For a firm foundation - something very, very important - it was decided that we needed to put some piers in.  It's not going to  have piers all the way around, just mostly on the East side. Our driveway will be (is) gravel to make the moisture issues less of a problem.

Boy oh boy, do those holes bring joy to my heart! It's so very exciting! I was out there doing a very quick happy dance when I snapped these pictures.

Here is yesterday (first two pics) with today following:

There's a stake in my dirt.

And a drive down the lot.

And chalk and flags. 

Yay!

Burn, Burn, Burn

Manners - found & lost

I came across this picture from months ago - taken at a banquet honoring all the new eagle scouts in our district. Guess why we were there? :)

Our little cub scout came along to honor someone he looks up to very much.

While we were eating, I looked over and saw him cutting his meat European style.

We do not know where he learned this, but he is very proficient.

At dinner tonight he was sitting like a monkey with his food in his hands and sloshing milk onto his chair.

Maybe we should make all our meals be banquets.

Soccer Boy's Pool Party

From yesterday

The Oklahoma wind was kind to us.

The wild fires from a few summers ago ran through this property.

Sadly, a lot of trees died.

But there are some beautiful ones left

and our builder 

and hardworking dozer man

are uncovering them in the overgrown mess.

 There was one huge dead beauty that had to come down.

 I would've loved to have seen her alive.

 Here's what I've learned in the past couple of days:

1. The wind has to be 10mph or less in order to get a go ahead (permit) on the burn

also, there has to be enough space around the big pile and the fire has to be babysat.

We are very, very fortunate the Oklahoma hot wind was/is taking a bit of a break.

2. I need to wear different clothes/shoes when I'm walking out there.

 Today's dirty feet brought to you by:

dirt.