Refocusing, Foundations

I swear, I’m trying not to let this blog become all Housebuilding ALL THE TIME. I do other things, really, I do. I work, I go for bike rides, I… pick out cabinets…

Can we also, just for a moment, acknowledge the following statement: What kind of nutjob agrees to build a house and plan a wedding in the same year? Oh….>>>>>this one<<<<<
We’ve agreed that as of right now, wedding planning takes a back seat to house decisions. Siding, finish work, etc. all take priority as they are so much more immediate. And, have I mentioned that I’m still more excited about the house than the wedding? Don’t get me wrong, I love DJ and the life we’ll build together… but I’m impatient and the house will be done so much more quickly! And yes, I’m thinking about asking my mom for my Legos when I’m in Clarkston next week in hopes I can build a scaled model of our house in Legos. What, that’d be weird, wouldn’t it?

Regarding wedding stuff though, we’ve narrowed it to two places, both about 400 miles apart. My parent’s lake place in Idaho in July of 2010 and the Livingston, MT Depot in September 2010. Both have their pros and cons. Harrison doesn’t have many hotel rooms, like 15 TOTAL, but anywhere in Montana in the fall is emotionally painful for my family. The Catbobs do have a bye the weekend of September 18, 2010 we could try to work around, and there IS a campground in Harrison, as well as 15 hotel rooms, one Bed and Breakfast and a handful of weekly vacation rentals… How many of my dear friends are willing to camp?

Regardless of the location, the wedding will be very low key and easy. My sister Gretchen is the only bridesmaid. DJ’s brother the only groomsmen. Keep it simple, small, and SHORT. We’re going to do what my friends Mark and Joslyn did in 2007; the 8 minute ceremony, and if you’re 10 minutes late you missed it!

But back to the immediate future (now where did I misplace my delorean?), they poured our foundation today! And it looks like they’ll start framing on Monday. Orange shirt guy in the photos said they had the house next door framed in 18 days… so when we get back from Oregon we’ll probably come home to a framed out house. Now who wants to come over and take a progress photo every day for me? I’ll be without 10 days of Housebuilding photos!

First the set the forms on top of the footers they poured yesterday.

Then a giant squid leg delivers the "mud" into the forms.

The pump truck is fed by the mixing truck.

And they've got all of these forms to fill...

The concrete is poured into the squid-armed pump truck.

Then the squid arm drops concrete! Or is it cement? I always get confused; is concrete an ingredient in cement or is the other way around?

The guy in the black shirt is holding a long vibrating hose that helps the material settle out and get rid of air pockets.