HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH! (Another sing-along...)

Howdy Y'all!

Do we have a great blog today, or what! (As apposed to the other previous blogs?) This one will be a big lengthy given the number of pics included, so we hope you enjoy the educational effort.

As some of you know, we have been a bit frustrated with the glacial process of getting this foundation built. Our latest setback came last Friday, the day the builder was set to pour concrete, and a day that was forecasted at 20% rain. Well, that "20% chance" turned into 3.5" of Texas rain all day Friday and most of Saturday. Rain and dirt foundations do not mix well, but as luck would have it, the foundation gods smiled on us and spared us any wall cave-ins or foundation erosion. We've now gone from bags, rebar and roadbed dirt to a real concrete foundation!

This is where we left you on the last blog.

As of Monday evening, the builder was going to pour the foundation on Wednesday, but on Tuesday we woke up to a message that said "we're on for today", and was starting at 7:30am. So, we rushed up to the site and saw....

Hallelujah! All lined up ready to go!

This lineup went on for most of the day, by count we had 28 trucks that delivered 280 cubic yards of concrete (or again, for the analytics, about 420 tons of cement.)

Jan and I took about 75 pics during the course of the day, but we are going to spare you the traditional 'home movies' version. We've culled it down to a few that pictorially describe the progress during the day, and that you might find interesting.

The magical pump truck, without which we would be wheel- barreling concrete into the forms.

This puppy has a reach of 200 feet. Couldn't quite make it to the last pipes in this picture, so we had one truck pour the last load here at the edge.

They poured all of the outer forms half way up and then started on the inner beams.

Jan and Jeff (our Project Manager). Notice the big smiles since we were finally pouring the foundation!

A great picture of the boom pump at work. (I was supervising (-:

Pump operator on the left.
This is the job I want. This guy stood around all day with a wireless joystick hanging around his neck moving the boom pump all over. Very cool!

Applying vibration to the form edges to settle the concrete.

Waiting for more concrete.

Pizza lunch break!

Pouring the final patio section.

Screeding and leveling.

Working the edges.

Smoothing the surface.

Finally, DONE!!

Jan and Cathy (our wonderful neighbor) basking in their supervisory roles.

Also, a huge shout-out to Jorge Riojas and his foundation crew. These guys worked at leveling, framing, filling, tamping, bagging, rebarring, and pouring a complex foundation for 60 days straight without a complaint or missed day's work. They are also now responsible for the knock-down of the frames to allow the framing guys to begin their work next week. Yesterday they started at 7:30am and left the site at 8:30pm. What a great team to work with!

But wait, there's more!

Here is a night shot of the cattle. Jan and I were leaving a neighbor's house when the longhorns decided to have a block party in the middle of the road. The picture isn't great (reminds me of the advertisement on poor low light camera quality on smartphones), but the cattle didn't mind. There were about 50 longhorns standing around partying.

And still more!

As we were going up to the property Tuesday morning for the foundation pour, this little critter (4 feet) wandered across the road. This is him, thoroughly pissed off, after I ran him over with both tires! He finally moseyed off into the grass a little later.

See ya later.

- John and Jan -