Winter Wonderland

Saturday brought an all-day snow of at least 12".

Champagne powder that would have the folks in Steamboat jealous.... too bad there are no mountains in S. Maryland. Pix show Sunday morning sunrise & moonset.

Not likely that we'll be seeing Walter back for a few days!

Wednesday with Walter

Walter Brooks, masonry artisan of Southern Maryland arrived today for first day of foundation work. Walter showed up before sunrise, and worked until he could no longer see the blocks, ~10 hours ! He's an amazing one-man show. Steve helped to carry blocks from pile to working area, but he was worn out by 1100 :) With good weather (& no freezing temps) it should take Walter about a week to finish the blocks & bricks.

Got Blocks ?

MLK Jr day not a holiday for the house crew. Concrete blocks arrived at ~0900 from A.G. Hungerford Masonry. Had some fun crawling on them during the beautiful WX today, hit a hi temp of 54 deg. Was so nice we took the boat out ! (then pulled it out for the rest of winter season, thanks Larry for letting us park it in your yard :)

Eagerly awaiting arrival of Walter this week to start laying down the concrete block foundation.

more Footer pix

1) John leveling, 2) busy scene: digging garage & pouring house, & 3) the one & only Billy in the garage footer.

Footers

I write this entry alone tonite. Steve has already crashed in the bedroom after working "footers" all day. The construction crew gave him quite an education on what "a good day's work" really is.

Pix include; 1) Billy walking the site before digging, re-baring & pouring begins (note the blue stake lines from day before), 2) Johhny digging in heavy machinery & Billy measuring the footers [8 inches deep] , 3) worksite after footer digging completed [hope i can get those truck tracks out of my kitchen!] , 4) concrete being poured into bobcat, 5) bobcat pouring concrete into footers/re-bar. WX warmed today to the balmy 40's, guys were down to their sweatshirts - no coats. The footers will need a few days to set. Next big milestone is masonry, with Walter scheduled to lay down concrete blocks early next week.

Stake day

Breezy, freezing cold and productive day on the Potomac. Heavy machines returned to excavate 18009 lot to foundation level. Steve, Billy & John precisely measured & staked out the foundation in prep for tomorrow's footer pour. Supposed to get a little warmer tomorrow.

"House" music

I added a "House" playlist for you to listen to as you read.

Scroll to bottom of blog page to flip thru songs if you don't like the one you're hearing.

Enjoy!

Demolition Video

here's a short video showing the start of Wednesday's (6 Jan) house demo.

Demo Day

Snow falling early in am, and soon the house was too!

pix include; 1) Jackie ready to watch the start (skippin' work), 2) early in demo (note the ghost in lwr rh side), 3) Jackie still watching midway thru demo, 4) arrival of the all-important "porto", 5) end of day shot (taken from same location as first photo.

Demo crew was kind enough to dig-up & move four nice sized crepe myrtle's in hopes of replanting in our other yard. Crew will return on Thursday to remove three large trees, piles of concrete & lonely chimney.

"Larry Hill & Sons" Excavating team was awesome, showed up at ~0830, lunch 12-1, and out by 3:30.

Fences up

First day of on-site work had the crew putting up the silt (black) and construction (orange) fences, as required by county. Inspection of fences & work site is scheduled for Wednesday am, and if all is well.... demolition will begin!

Pix are of Billy & Donald putting up the fences, and John (builder) checking up on them. Nice blue sky day, but cold. ~35 deg F.

Happy New "House" Year !

* Happy New Year 2010 *

We've started a blogspot so family & friends can watch the epic adventure of the construction of our new shangra-la in Tall Timbers, Maryland.

We'll soon start to post photo's of our house as it is being constructed, designed by "Ernest Pfeiff Residential Design LLC" & built by "John Morris Custom Home Builder".

Come on along to share the fun, misery, debt and excitement with us.

(photo shows house as it was on 19 Dec 2009)

Enjoy!

Jackie & Steve