What can be accomplished with a little good weather?

A couple of days after I last posted (complaining) we went to the property and the forms for the foundation had appeared:

We were so relieved that we were actually started on THE HOUSE.  Well, that was enough to open the heavens and we just had the 9th wettest March on record!  3 inches of rain in one week and 5 inches in one day the next week.  Progress barely creeped along.

muddy foundation

Critters creeped around...

Raccoon tracks in the mud.  Right through the kitchen, no less.

Our resident hawk ate dinner on the front lawn.

The outhouse house was built...

Well at least it adds some privacy from the front!

And we waited.  And wondered why on earth couldn't someone do some actual work!!!  Well, it turns out that rain is a lovely thing unless you are trying to drive a 35 ton cement truck onto mud.  Yes, I looked it up.  That is how much a fully loaded  cement truck weighs.  And, since we brought in truckload after truckload of dirt... we now had lots and lots of mud.

Thankfully, we have had a nice dry spell over the last 11 to 12 days and progress has been made.  I never thought I would be so glad to see a cement truck but my heart actually made a little leap the day I drove up and saw this:

And this is what they had done:  

Drilled and filled 72 18 inch wide, 10-12 feet deep piers.  Messed up the nice flat foundation, but what do I know?  According to the builder, they hit water 10 feet down (what a surprise) and so they had to do some "extra engineering that cost them an extra couple thousand dollars" so the foundation would be totally stable.  We are grateful that they did the right thing!

The next tasks:  digging out the storage room that will be accessed off the garage and laying all the underground plumbing and electrical pipes:

Please notice the glorious sunshine!

This is what happens when a backhoe digs through the buried electric line.
No, it can't be fixed with electrical tape.

That is a really looooong sewer line.  

Trying to figure out which pipes are which is a bit of a puzzle, but this looks
like the powder room and guest bathroom downstairs.

And bringing.... MORE DIRT.  Every newly dug swimming pool in North Texas is contributing to our building project!  

We usually spend some time walking around the property every day.  It is now knee deep in grass and weeds wherever there isn't dirt.  Susie loves to come and explore with us:

She's really not too much of an outdoor girl... other than
almost daily walks around the neighborhood sidewalks.
So going to the property and being a "farm dog" is quite
exciting for her and she is usually exhausted afterwards.

And no leash!  

it is hard to remember how far we've come.  So in remembrance:

Here's the little old house as it looked last summer and the way the same location looks today.  When all that dirt gets smoothed out it will make a great riding area or more pasture.  The builder thinks we might actually finish up the house in late September or early October.  Here's to a few months of good weather!