Cats Explore Snow

Randy forced the cats to go out. I am sure they have never experienced snow before. Buster was intrigued and tried to eat it and then dig in it a bit.

He also tried to attack it and pounce. He was having a good time.

Ta (or Bandito) tried to walk around it at first, but then enjoyed walking along the fence line.

And climbing up the stone wall....

As you can see it is already starting to melt. We may get some more snow before the day is over but I bet it will be gone by tomorrow. Hope so.....we need to get back to building walls.

Sunday Snow

Yesterday we were hiking in shirt sleeves in Sedona and this morning at about 8:00 a.m. it started to snow! Big flakes that blanketed the ground.

Randy got this shot of one of the quail. His photography skills are getting pretty amazing.

We had quite a lot of quail in the yard this morning......we must have been the only restaurant in town.

I have been trying to get the cats to go out and experience snow.....no dice yet.

Viewing the Red Rock

On Saturday we drove over to Sedona to see the red rock. It's about a two-hour drive from Payson.

You can take a pink jeep tour through the area or ride a helicopter or rough it in an ecofriendly (really?) green hummer but we decided to hike.

It was a beautiful day....55 degrees and sunny. Here's the thing about AZ.....it's 55 in the shade. In the sun it feels more like 75 so we were hiking in short sleeves.

Jake tried a little on the spot rock climbing.

I opted to crawl in from the side of the rocks. It was a nice view. These rocks are just beautiful. You could stare at them all day.

We had a nice lunch and browsed around in some of the shops.....lots of art, wood crafts, glass, textiles, etc. A really nice day!

Jacob Visits for Thanksgiving Weekend

We headed up to the Rim so that Jake could take in the view. It was a gorgeous day, about 45 degrees with clear skies.

It's been so great to have Jake around.......we miss him so much.

We went to Woods Canyon lake and discovered snow. We couldn't drive in to the lake as the road was closed. This area really has changed in the last month!

Yep....Randy is growing a beard. We hiked a bit but it was slippery and Randy was worried that he was going to fall and damage his new camera. One of the highlights of the trip was seeing several Bald and Golden Eagles flying over the lake.

Walls Go Up!

The masons (Jeremy, Chad, Shane) got started on the walls. Due to the holiday next week and another job they have to finish, our walls won't be done until December 1st.

The lower section will be done by the end of today (Saturday).

We met with Barry, the fireplace mason, this morning. We went to his house in Strawberry to see his fireplace. We are building a Count Rumford fireplace and he built one for himself. These fireplaces were designed 200 years ago and burn cleanly and efficiently while giving off more heat than conventional fireplaces. It has a large open firebox and you have full view of the flame. When you build a fire you place the wood in a teepee shape because as the wood burns the smoke and gasses come out the end of the wood and enter the hottest part of the fire to be burned.

Concrete Block

Jeremy and Chad (Concrete Guys) arrived early this morning to prepare the site so that cement block walls could be built tomorrow.

The blocks were delivered in piles and needed to be moved on to the site so that they would be ready for the masons and wall building.

LOTS of blocks needed to be moved! I couldn't believe that two guys moved all of those blocks.

Jeremy and Chad cut pieces of wood that will be used to make sure the corners of the walls are in the right places.

They used a level to make sure the corner posts were plumb and on the strings.

They measured and remeasured and measured again! They really were precise.

Close up of the pieces of wood that secure the corner posts.

Randy says he is going to participate in every phase of the house building so.....he moved some block too! The blocks were heavy!

Footings Finally!

When we first moved to Payson we wanted to use the building site as our address so that we wouldn't have to change our address again after a year. The post office told us that we couldn't use the building site as our permanent address until we had footings in the ground.

Well.....the cement trucks arrived today and we have footings in the ground!

We had a crew of six to make sure the cement went into all the right places. Jeremy is holding the house plans and making sure the rebar for the walls is placed correctly.

These guys have to work fast once the concrete starts rolling down the chute.

Some of the footings needed to be filled by wheel barrow because the truck couldn't get close enough to the ditches.

They had the truck drive over two narrow metal planks in order to get to one area. It was a tight fit.

Concrete blocks arrive this afternoon and work on the walls starts tomorrow.

REBAR!

Mike, the excavator, dug a pit for the sewage grinder. We have to have one of these in this area as per the building code. The grinder is like a big garbage disposal for all of your sewage, and it costs $6,400!

The pit serves a double purpose.....concrete trucks usually wash their shoots and let the concrete-polluted water run anywhere and everywhere. We are going to "require" them to dump their water in the pit which we can clean out easily.

The cement guys cut, bent, placed and wire-tied the rebar into the foundation trenches today.

The vertical pieces of rebar establish the level to which the concrete will be poured.

Jeremy and his team of two spent the morning measuring and cutting the rebar. Randy had prepared the trenches so perfectly that they did not have to remove any dirt.

Jeremy and company didn't quite finish their work today so Randy and Matt, the builder, will finish the work placing the stakes in the trenches on Friday. We hope to get this inspected Friday afternoon so that we can pour concrete early next week.

Architect Visits

Bill Otwell stopped by today on his way back from Globe to Prescott. He wanted to see the building site and the progress we have made so far. We were happy to see him and had a few questions for him. We really value his opinion.

Not much happened on the site today. Just 5 dump truck loads of dirt were added to the driveway. Randy is going to water things down and clean out the trenches tomorrow. Some serious work will start on Wednesday with Mark, the mason—concrete, rebar and footings.