More Rain and Another Hole

The lovely weather was pushed out by more grey clouds and rain today. By 8:30 it seemed like deja vu when a flock of construction equipment pulled up the hill.

The excavator dug and moved dirt all day. (It looked like beautiful dirt too...I would love it for my garden if it wasn't needed for fill!) By this evening it looked like this:

Here is Dad in the hole to give you some perspective:

This is L in our hole on Oct 10th last year:

Mom and Dad have had a momentous week. In one week they have sold their house, moved 5 hours West, gotten their building permit and tax abatement, and started excavation. (And folks say you take it easy after you retire...!)

Rainy Day

The rain held off until L finished her final swim lesson of the summer before it let loose in earnest. She seemed none the worse for her experience yesterday.

J's teacher worked with her until she was able to pass Level 3.

The builder cancelled the concrete pour scheduled for today due to the weather. Instead, they worked on the cupola. Unfortunately, I didn't have the right hardware to install the weather vane, so the pig is still in the garage.

The excavator was only able to work until around noon, but got fill in around the porch and garage, and opened up the front yard some.

I stood on the porch and watched the rain today...it was a pleasant way to waste time. Our flock of turkeys stayed in the underbrush during the downpour, so I couldn't see them. Every time it thundered, they would gobble their displeasure. An Eastern Bluebird was flitting from tree to tree...what a treat to see him! I am anxious to put up my Hummingbird feeders, so I can watch those lovely little flashes of color this summer as well.

The girls wanted to go out in their rain gear, and came back caked in mud.

My Heart Stopped Today

We are nearing the end of swimming lessons, thank goodness! It has been a long week at the pool. I'm sure the girls enjoyed it much more than I did. I'm pretty disappointed with the lessons this year...neither of the girls has learned much at all.

L fell in the water over her head this morning. It happened while I was scanning across the pool to be sure J was doing alright, so I wasn't aware that she was under until my friend started yelling "L is in the water! Get her out!" I took off running into the pool fully dressed, but one of the lifeguards managed to pull her out before I got in past my ankles. She was across the pool from me, coughing and gagging and shivering...so close, and yet so far away. All I wanted to do was hold her in my arms. When I finally did, I realized how much I was shaking too.

This evening, L told JP how she "got in the deep end and got water in my eyes and ears and nose"...no big deal to a 3 year old, but absolutely terrifying to a Mommy!

We spent the entire day at the pool, and came home tired and feeling a bit like raisins in the afternoon. The crew was just about to leave for the day. They put forms up for half of the concrete pad, and moved things out of the way for the excavators tomorrow. They also cleaned the porch and patio and sealed them with something called "Shark Skin", to make the concrete less slippery when wet. They look a bit darker and sorta shiny now. The porch hasn't been this empty since it was poured!

The cupola arrived and is in a giant box in the garage. J and I managed to put the "whimsical pig" weather vane together last week, so it is ready to go!

The pig garden is in full bloom! We released J's preying mantis out there this evening, after keeping it in the bug cage for most of the week. I was worried it would die, since we were having a hard time supplying food that it liked. We enjoyed watching it for several days...good luck in the wild Timmy!

Another Big Hole

We drive out to Poplar Ridge quite frequently these days. When the weather is nice, it is so lovely to get away from our close apartment quarters and roam free! The other day L said "I want to stay here AND go home!" Soon, very soon, that will be the case!

It is interesting how my 2 princesses can go from this

to this in a matter of minutes. Here they are digging into an ant hole.

The water man was out this weekend to dig an 8 foot deep hole between the house and the well. This will be for our 2000 gallon cistern from the well. Once he has the well hooked up, we will need to get it tested to be sure it is safe to use. Then he will put a smaller cistern on the other side of the house to hold rain water. We will use this for watering the garden, washing cars, etc. We wanted to have lots of water on hand since we are so far from the Fire Department and any hydrants.

The dry wall is all up. This week they will work on finishing it. I hope that 100 gallons of joint compound is sufficient!

We finally settled on a paint color. I can't believe how difficult this task was! Although paint is easy enough to change, we wanted to get just the right color for most of the house. Our builder prefers not to use too many different colors. The paint board samples at Lowe's did not translate well into the big picture. I had to buy 4 different samples before we found what we were looking for.

This one is called "Weeping Willow". That seems appropriate given that our huge willow is just about the only thing we will miss from our old house.

The girls have picked a bright yellow-green called "Lemon Mint" for their rooms, and their bathroom and the one upstairs will be a soft yellow "Butter". I will do our Master Bathroom in light blue "Blue Thistle" and "Stratosphere" just like before...still have the paint.

That just about covers it for this week!

Holes N Poles

My husband questioned last night why I had a picture of a Maple tree at the beginning of this Blog. I was actually trying to have an Autumn picture. I have now updated it with a picture of a Fall Poplar on Poplar Ridge for all you literalists out there!

We stopped by again this afternoon because the excavation is now finished. The resulting hole in the hillside is very impressive!

M...it appears like I was off on my depth estimate by several feet...looks like it's closer to 10 feet or so at the deepest end.

The power company also managed to get another 2 power poles up yesterday for a grand total of 4. The Fall colors are really looking lovely out here!

And now, unfortunately, everything stops for the weekend! But we will be there to lay our dear little Zach to rest where he can watch the squirrels and deer. We miss you, Bud!

Here We Go...

Whoopie! They are excavating at our property! They started yesterday by leveling the area for the garage.





Now they are excavating for our house and yard.



Here's a close up of the shale that is prevalent here. Apparently that is what is making it a gold mine for Natural Gas!

We passed 2 Allegheny Power trucks headed that way when we were going home. Hopefully they were going out to work some more on getting electricity up the hill!

The girls are excited too! L sang on the way home "Us getting a new house! Us getting a new house!"