If you can't dig it.....blow it up!

After seven days of digging, we finally have a half basement and lots of large rocks left over. Today we find out how much more digging or leveling we have to do to get ready for the foundation. Hopefully it won't be much, but seeing as how we have chosen to build on an ancient rock burial ground, I'm sure it won't be easy.


Before we broke ground, we had to make sure that the water works.



Day 1




Gage hanging out with Tim


Getting ready to dynamite


Covering the areas TBD (to be dynamited)


BOOM!


Papa Kenny cleaning up the mess


And a week later...welcome to our half-basement.



Simba, Stella, and Gage hanging out on the dozer


Rusty and Gage

Playing in the Dirt

What I have learned so far:

1) Rocks are bad.
2) Dynamiting is expensive (I may be in the wrong profession).
3) Power and water can go in the same trench, but you have to refill the trench
with non-rocky dirt.
4) Simply staked out, the house looks really small.




Clearing the way



Yes....that tree should definitely go.



What a neat trench....


such a straight, precise line....


until we hit rock, big ones,


and the digging got messy.

Water line!

Stella supervising

Gage is more interested in the Nintendo DS in his hand.

A handful of dirt

Georgia Power giving us some voltage.

Stella's first lesson on operating a bulldozer.

Staking out the position

Waking Up to the Dream

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to build a house. For years, I drooled when I watched HGTV and convinced myself that I too deserved to live in a house straight out of a home interior magazine. I spent a small fortune on house plan books but never found "the one." We decided to take the plunge in May of 2010 and began working with an architect. We had the vision in our minds, but lacked the drafting skills to put it on paper.

In order to build our dream house, we had to first sell the one we currently owned. Our house had been on the market since January 2010, and as of August, it had only been looked at one time. Just about the day after I lost all sense of optimism and had given up hope of selling, I got a call that someone wanted to see the house. A few days later, they made an offer. We accepted...they bought it, and we closed around the same time our house plans were finalized.

And so the journey begins...stay tuned to vicariously experience my excitement over trenches and Ditch Witches.