Day 3 of Excavation

This is an odd picture I know. Randy and I were in the bucket of the front loader backhoe. Mike raised us 10 feet off the ground so that we could take in the view from where our south and west facing decks will be.

Randy spent the day taking out some of the dead trees with the chain saw and pruning other trees. I tutored in the morning and hauled branches into piles in the afternoon for the dump truck.

Here's what it looked like at the end of the day. I just never get tired of looking at those rocks. We have to bring in 500 yards of fill. We are in the process of negotiating a price for the dirt.

Earlier this afternoon, Mike set up his laser transit to determine if the elevations for the main floor and the downstairs were excavated to the elevations in the plans. That dude was just one tenth of an inch off! He has been doing this for so long he can just eyeball it.

I dragged this rotten piece of wood to the burn pile and then I noticed the hibernating lizard buried inside. I put him and the log back where I found them....hope he makes it through the winter. I shutter to think about the number of critters we have disturbed.

We had some frost this morning......but once the sun comes out it warms up fast. Matt, the builder, has a 40 degree rule. In the winter, no one starts work until the air temperature is 40 degrees. Otherwise he says that the guys just stand around drinking coffee trying to stay warm.