What a Difference a Few Days Make

Boy, stuff has been happening around here during the last few days. First off, there has been a ton of digging done to create the trenches for the footers of the pool and pool house.

This shot was taken on Tuesday.

By Wednesday, the dirt piles really grew. It's now at a point that getting to our forest of tomato plants is becoming a bit of a challenge.

By late Wednesday, the crew finally hit the marl level. This is far more stable than the black dirt.

While all that digging was going on, other crew members were bending and tying steel (rebar) for the base of the footers and the columns.

A close-up of their work:

We had an "oops" moment when one of the day laborers (a.k.a. ants) accidentally hit the junction of the sewer pipe that runs from our spare bathroom. The pipe was clearly marked and David had reminded the guys of its placement, but one enthusiastic smack with a pick axe was all it took. Fortunately, we have two bathrooms so it wasn't a big deal to wait until Thursday morning to have repairs done.

And that's exactly what happened. By 8:00, the plumber on the crew was here, took measurements, bought parts, and everything was fixed.

Short detour from the action. While the dogs don't have free rein to run the yard while the crew is here, they do enjoy checking out all the new stuff in the yard after they leave.

Cici has claimed the sand pile as her own. Hail the queen of the mountain!

Okay, back to the trenches.

With having dug down to the marl level, the crews laid plastic on the bottom of the trenches.

Then came the fun part of maneuvering the 40 foot steel supports into the trenches, over the dirt piles.

Earlier in the day, the guys used a mold and poured a slab of cement, which they then scored into squares. They will be using these squares today to help level out the steel.

A load of sticks was delivered, which will be used multiple ways. But for now, they are acting as the preliminary support for the columns.

And to wrap up all the activity during these few days, we received pool parts yesterday afternoon from Island Pool, located in San Pedro. They were delivered via The Thunderbolt water taxi. So now we our pool pump/filter, sand, drain, and other sundry pieces and parts.

Today all the columns are being straightened and leveled, plus the guys (with the help of a handful of ants) will be pouring the footer. You can be sure there will be more pictures of that action and the block laying in the footer scheduled for Saturday.