This is the best we could manage for a ribbon cutting at 7:00 a.m. The excavator came an hour before we thought he would. But no complaining because at least we are finally starting the project. We did have a dozen or so people stop by and some even wanted mimosas before work.
The flattened lot
Jason, our builder, is the good looking one.
And in case you're as excited by big machines as we are, here's a picture of the very talented Vinny driving his big scooper:
Vinny again, taken from the roof of the house next door:
Not much to say about the groundbreaking which was really just ground leveling. We had soil moved from the back of the lot toward the front and then some had to be hauled away because it contained old foundation and bricks. Sadly much of that rubble was not re-usable, but we had a salvage yard pick up the scrap metal which included gutters, pipes, doors and unidentifiable pieces.
Here are some other interesting things found in our little archeological dig:
Baby food jars that contained bulbs of garlic!
An unopened pack of cigs, making them the most valuable thing found. The lighter is a free bonus.
Not a fossil, looks like an old cow bone dog toy.
Some woman is very chilly right now.
A metal door thankfully taken by the salvage yard.
Many other such treasures were found. We also were able to save some stones to use in the eventual garden and of course, the daylily bulbs we saved the day before.
The next steps involve laying out the "string" house (stakes in the ground with walls of string) and using a laser level to see if we are close to the height of the building next door. Then a surveyor comes by to lay out the official footprint of the house and finally the actual hole (expensive hole) can be dug. Those events should happen over the next couple of weeks, weather permitting.
Onward and upward,
Mark, Mark and Isabel
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