Movin' Dirt...or mud...

The excavator started this morning just as it began to rain. I thought that might sink any plans of getting underway today, but in the words of the excavator: "Doesn't matter, it's got a cab with windshield wipers!" So, on we go!

We're scheduled to get footings poured tomorrow also, that actually might get held up on account of the weather. We'll see. At any rate, the hole will be dug and ready for the footings.

Over the weekend my dad and I cleared out a bunch more trees and brush. After seeing where the surveyors had placed the house on the property, it was clear that some of the trees were too close to the house. I figured it was better to cut them down when there wasn't a house to hit. The end result was a much more open back yard and more clearance around the house. We also cleared out some brush on the lower part of the lot. There are some places where we're going to have the foundation fill spread so we have less of a slope in the back yard too. That saves us some money since we don't have to truck the fill dirt out of the lot and it gives us more usable back yard too.

The plumbers will also be coming to hook up the water and the sewer so they are ready when the foundation is poured.

The only other snag we hit today - besides the weather - is that "Miss Dig" never showed up. Miss Dig is the utility authority that identifies where all the gas, electric, phone, water, and sewer lines are so the excavators don't hit them. Our builder called them last week Wednesday and they're supposed to have a pretty quick turn-around. The excavator said that the utility companies have recently switched to a different contractor to do the Miss Dig work and ever since things haven't been getting done efficiently, so they weren't too surprised. So, hopefully after a few phone calls we'll get that done today. Most of the digging will take place in the back of the lot anyhow, so it shouldn't slow us down too much.

So, on we go. More pictures tonight and probably a few more updates.