9. July 31

July 28 - they got the forms up for the front entry and porch. The part in front is the entry and the half in behind will be a covered porch

July 31, here we are with the walls all done and about 7 loads of fill brought in yesterday to backfill. Notice the grade of the fill to the front of the porch area. We will have a walkway from the driveway that will go to the front level of the porch - no need for a ramp this way.

Can you barely see the "puddle" in the cellar hole? That is the spot where the elevator will go. It still needs to be squared off.

We should be getting the house in a couple weeks! "I can't wait!" has become my mantra because I've said it so many times.

8.

Concrete was poured today, I couldn't believe how quickly it all happened, they were done before I even was out of bed! (I think it was July 10 or thereabouts - I lost a batch of pics from then so don't remember the exact dates) Two days later the forms were off and here's our foundation. The portion in the foreground was actually done at a later date. That will be just a crawl space, not full basement. This 12' x 24' section is part of our 16'x 16' bedroom.

After it's done, they spray something like tar on the cement to waterproof the walls. You can see the guy in his overalls and mask spraying in the next pic.

Larry started to backfill but first he put in a new water line to the well. When the new house is here, the water will be disconnected from this house and connected to the new one.

So that's about all that's happened in the past 3 weeks. Of course the most exciting part was finalizing our plans and actually ordering the house. We are still in line to receive it in August, of course that could be 5 more weeks too! Hope not. In the meantime I'm enjoying gardening in the window boxes on my ramp. Theres another box you can't see full of salad fixin's that I can pick right from my chair.

7. Fourth of July - Before & After

Where May was sunny and we were needing rain, June is cloudy and stormy every day. Definitely slowing things up a little. The outside walls were mostly installed today - Thursday. Tomorrow is the 4th so no work on Friday. It's a long way around this foundation.

Monday bright and early Hastings Concrete were here 6:30am to finish the job. With the heat coming on they wanted to get done as early as possible. Doug took this picture from the excavator so he could get it all from above. (shhhh, don't tell Larry) Tuesday they will pour the walls. Wouldn't you know it's going to be HOT! I'm so glad I don't have to do it, but glad that someone is willing to.

We took off on Sunday for our first trip to the beach since our 2007 anniversary in January. Weather was much better this day. It was about 82 and breezy - perfect beach weather and I forgot to wear a bathing suit! It was really foggy on shore but we didn't care, the better to smell the salt air. We had our favorite Pier Fries with vinegar and catsup, fried clams and later had a lob-sta roll on the way home. We went to the Portland pier to get fresh haddock, Oh best of all, Doug took me to the Christmas Tree Shop!! All in all a really wonderful day. This was also our longest drive so far - 3 hours. Soon we'll be traveling further and further.