Cement Thou the hearts!

Who knew there was a Baha'i prayer for cement?!  Cement Thou, O God, the hearts together!

We had an early and exciting morning of pouring concrete.  We had to hire a pumper truck because there was no room for a regular cement truck to get onto the lot without breaking trees or having to move a very large pile of gravel.  It was pretty cool!  The cement truck dumps the cement into a hopper on the pumper truck. 

dumping cement into the hopper

There was another whole joint of this arm that is out of the picture...

A very long, articulated arm holding a hose that sucked cement up from the regular cement truck, and then out through a house about 6" in diameter.  It was pretty awesome.  The pumper truck operator control the movement of the arm and the flow of the concrete by using a remote control that he strapped onto his chest.  IT.WAS.SO.COOL!

planning the pour

Keith controled the hose, filling the forms.  Nathan leveled the concreted.  I was back up.  Thankfully, everything went well!  I was able to cut a board on the fly and notice when a shovel was needed.  Oh, and of course, I called the "Press" (a.k.a. our 3 - 9 yr old friends who think big trucks are cool!) and I was the photograph, with Terese being the artistic director!

waiting for another cement truck to arrive

We have the second half of the pour early next week!  Nathan has been anxious to "get out of the ground"...pretty soon!!

A video for your viewing pleasure...

Digging Complete!

The digging went every well!  We have a giant hole in the yard and have all kinds of curious people popping over to say "hi" and to see what we're doing!

                              
After the hole was dug and a liner of pebbles was layed down, Keith asked Nathan how close we were on the diagonal measurements.  From one corner to the other, we were off 1/8 of an inch!  A smidge too big!  Pretty amazing given the huge machine that does the digging - I have no idea how a person could take this big thing and end up being so precise.  I'm also REALLY glad we hired this portion out.  It definitely paid to hire a pro!

When all was complete with this stage, Nathan, J and I all took a 'walk through' of the house.  J loved it!  She wanted to know where the fridge was and may she have some yogurt. I mimed pulling the yogurt out of the fridge, pulling out a bowl & spoon.  Then the turkey wanted to watch a movie, so we started a movie on an imaginary laptop.  So if you see my kid sitting in a big whole stareing at the ground...please know she's just watching a movie!

Day One of Digging a Success...mostly!

Our day one of digging was a success!  Uuugh..Mostly :)  It was fraught with a bit more drama than we were hoping for.  After a few bumps in the morning that were easily overcome, we hit a bigger bump that gave us a good scare.  AND slowed down the progress.

The hired hand that is doing the digging for us came into the shop and asked Nathan to call the gas company.  (That is never pleasant to hear!).  He thought it was an abandoned line, but who *really* wants to test that out?!  So Nathan called the gas company to have them confirm it was an abandoned.  They said "It [was], but let's be sure, let's cut through it".  (if all kinds of bells and whistles are going off thinking of a saws-all on a potentially, probably, maybe abandoned gas line, you would be correct in your worry).  So the line was sawed through and it was indeed an abandoned line.

For the record.  We did 'call before we dig'ged. :)  The permit to start is not issued from the city until all the utilites come out and put their little 'ok' flags in the yard OR mark where the lines are and sign off on it.  It just woulda been nice to know to expect an abandon line about 2 feet down.

But boy howdy, that will get your blood pumping!

Sunday Ceremony

On Sunday we invited friends, neighbors and former co-workers over for a ground breaking ceremony.  With 'the diggers' coming on Tuesday, we wanted to mark the event in some kind of reverant and thankful way.  We said prayers and then Nathan dug the first hole. 

When we were married, Nathan's beloved Grandfather "Opa" had a tool giveaway to all of his grandkids - who were all gathered for the wedding.  He decided he was too old to use the tools anymore and wanted someone else to have them.  You had to know what it was and how to use it in order to take the tool!  AND you had to promise to keep the tools clean!

Nathan chose Opa's shovel.  It was this shovel that Nathan used to make the first hole.  He would have been to proud to know how that shovel was used!

We enjoyed homemade ginger scones, a bright sunny morning, the love of friends and excitment of the upcoming project!

even the little people enjoyed getting in on the action!

Definition of a Dream House

A dream house is kind of an oxymoron.  There will almost always be city codes, city ordainces,international building codes, , time, and MONEY as factors in building.  To think of a dream house without these factors will make the project unrealistic and probably more of a headache than a dream. 

 (I know I will be reminding myself of this little bit later!)

The definition of a "dream" house will be as different as the people that will live in that house. 

Our dream house is tucked into a beautiful, established neighborhood in Montana.  The surrounding houses range from houses building in 1920's -1940's.  It's been a long time since a new house has been in this neighborhood! Our dream house has three generations living in it.  We grow a lot of our own food.  We have as many recycled things as we can imagine (doors, door knobs, kitchen sink, light fixtures...) and as many local materials as we can find.  The house is super insulated.  We strive to be as frugal as we can possibly be, including acquiring as little debt as possible. 

We're just starting this project.  My husband has quit his 8-5 job and is building the house with the help of his parents and myself - or as much help as I can be while raising our 3 year old!

We spent a little over a year creating floor plans, looking at floor plans, talking about floor plans, changing drawings and then finally, putting the reality into the drawings - set backs, square footage we could afford,  minimum room requirements, etc.  We all compromised on some things and we all got a little of a 'I have to have..." or "I really want to have..."

This blog will archive our project and keep our family and friends up to date.  Stayed tuned!  There's more to come!