The excitement picked up the next morning as the crew from Ayers arrived and began their amazing act. A combination of dancers, jugglers, and magicians they surgically removed the sand near (nay, I say, exactly at) the bottom of the foundation (footer) then proceeded to drill and chop a bite out of the bottom (wide part) of the poured footer. Each member of the three-person crew (all male) had their own specialities and chipped in together on general jobs when they were off center stage. I was thoroughly impressed not only by their expertise but also by their emphasis on safety. Adam, who ran the Bobcat, answered my questions patiently but never once ran the bucket and talked to me at the same time. I learned to watch and learn pretty quick.
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| I mean, look at that trench. The guy with the Bobcat bucket machine was cray good. He was frequently working, while I watched, within 1" or less(!) of the siding, trim, windows, and shutters. Not just for digging the trench but also for drilling down the piers, another whole story you're not ready for yet. |
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| These are the (screw) piers. I added the screw to be descriptive. They can also have 5' extensions added, and frequently do, in order to get the screw part down into a stratum where the output/input hydrolic pressure indicated a stable layer. |
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| Typical scene while doing the dishes. |
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| Peace at the end of the first day. |
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| 3 or 4 more days passed and then the Cat-in-the-Hat packed up with Things 1 and 2 and left. |
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| Crap, there's a bunch of mold/mildew on the walls. You can only see it under certain lighting conditions but I know that some of it's been here for years because I remember seeing it in the past and ignoring it. Must figure out what it is and how to deal with it. |
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| Forget the mold! Let's go outside and take pictures! |
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| I think the outside temp was about 35 degrees, the inside temp maybe 4-5 degrees warmer but not sure why. Wind chill was an issue. |
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| This was a little test fire, to see if my novel's heroine should be able to build a fire at her beach camp when she arrives on 4/1/1871. |
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| I built this standing-desk (two end tables and a welcome mat) to try to get comfortable at the computer. |
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| We had one amazing afternoon where I was actually down to shorts and a t shirt and set up this sunning chair and later had a real beach fire to burn the nails out of the ends of a bunch of lumber which had washed up over the winter. That was the end of the sunshine until this afternoon (when it was accompanied by fairly strong winds) |
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| However we did not see the sun for a while after that, but I went for a drive (yesterday) down some back sandy roads along the White River using my new off-road skills from S. Arizona. Observed the river during the spring thaw, when loggers would send their winter's work down to the mills in the lakes. Almost got stuck once coming over a very loose hill after recent rain. Calmed myself down, exited the vehicle, looked around, made a plan. Lowering the driver window and leaning out to line the wheels up straight prior to rocking helped I think. At least I was mostly prepared to spend the night. |
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| Then I got a drone (heck of a deal: on clearance at Walmart for $50 after 40% discount) and that, as they say, changed everything. |
Here's the link to The Movie Star, the Professor and Mary Ann (aka "
The Rest")
