Day 12

Saturday, May 23, 1998

  Dad didn't call Rich & I to tell us he was leaving, he figured he'd "let us sleep in". So we didn't leave until 9:00 or so for the land. Then mom called us to say there were almost 11 guys out there. We had intended to feed them, so we had to stop for more food and pop! ... When we got there.. we were amazed.. Were they kicking butt or what?!?!! The night before we only had one corner done and the first course on the North wall (farthest wall in this picture). An hour later they had almost the whole north wall done. Against better judgement, dad even got in on the action and was up laying the BIG 12" block with the rest of them. (he's the third from the left in the medium blue shirt and dark hat.) While 1/2 the guys were on the north wall, the other half were working on the subgarage. Uncle Dave (green shirt, red & black hat, second from the right) was working like crazy keeping them with "mud" (morter), and block within reach. What a great uncle! The guy farthest to the right is Mike, he's the one who called dad and found out what needed to be done, then he called alot of the other guys to get them to come out. How terrific of him eh?! By noon they had almost the entire West wall done, and refused to eat lunch until it was finished. Then they took a lunch break, although none of them would sit down to eat. After lunch the got moving again, by 1:00 the South basement wall was almost complete. And two more guys showed up. Now including dad & uncle dave & Rich, we had 13 men working! As you can see from this view point, there was a lot of major work going on. Each one of those 12" blocks weighs at least 80 lbs. And the 'laborers' on the ground were lifting them up to the scaffold, eye level, that's high! Around 2:00 Mom, Rich & I began to wonder why it looked like there were less guys. Then we realized 3 of them were 'plastering' the outside walls. Pretty neat huh? By 3:00 all the basement walls were done. All that was left was to finish the subgarage and the base of the main garage. Were they kicking butt or what?!?! This is just before they were done with the garage wall (south) the few blocks you see are between where the garage doors will be. Shortly after 3:30 or so almost everything was done and cleaned up. This is a view from the North side toward the inside South wall of the basement. That door goes from the basement into the subgarage. The last thing they did was plaster the east subgarage outside wall where the hill will slope down. This is the view from the walkout looking into the subgarage. There will be a overhead door there. This is the garage when it was done and everything else was cleaned up. The other block below won't be seen later, its only to give the garage stability on the hill. We'll fill it in with dirt then pour the driveway. .. All in all I'd say they did a damn good job and fast too! We were very happy that they were all terrific enough to come out on their own time (without their boss) and do this for us. We really appreciated it, and hopefully we were able to show that to them! .. Thanks a ton guys! ..    Day One - May 12 Day Two - May 13 Day Three - May 14 Day Four - May 15 Day Five - May 16 Day Six - May 17 - NOTHING Day Seven - May 18 - NO PHOTOS Day Eight - May 19 Day Nine - May 20 Day Ten - May 21 Day Eleven - May 22 Day Twelve - May 23 (May 24-25th Vacation - days won't count) Day Thirteen - May 26th -& Day Fourteen - May 27th NO PHOTOS Day Fifteen - May 28th Day Sixteen - May 29th Day Seventeen - May 30th Day Eighteen - May 31st Day Nineteen - June 1st Day Twenty - June 2nd Day Twenty One - June 3rd Day Twenty Two - June 4th Day Twenty Three - June 5th   We've begun buying tile and have our carpet picked out:  INTERIOR   If you haven't looked at the plans... go here:  PLANS