Plans for the Future

 This whole plan starts with an amazing Mother's Day gift from my son. 

Over the years, along with another flood, it's in need of more than just a new coat of paint. As I start thinking and planning, I end up with more ideas than will ever be possible. Perhaps you've seen the Elf Houses of Iceland. 

I have to dig out a lot of ground behind the bench for these, and figure out a retaining wall behind them. Most of them are built into a hill, so that should help quite a bit.

I laid in some steps last spring using unopened bags of Quikrete. They also seem to need some retaining properties, as they are already beginning to shift. Instead of digging down to make them ground level, I just leveled the ground and laid them on top. This was apparently a mistake of sorts. Yes, that's Kayce at the top. He's also a huge fan of my little hideaway. Farther north of the steps, I also plan to make a terraced Fairy Garden. I still have to do some research on whether Fairies and Elves get along in a small community, so that could hinder the process. 

Up here closer to the tree will be a Fairy House. I haven't decided if it will be up in the tree or on the ground. Again, more research. I've seen both. I'll have a bird feeder pole around here as well, so she'll have to learn to share one way or the other. Since my cats follow me out here, it's probably best to have it higher in the tree. I believe the Elves will be able to hold their own, from what I've read so far. 

This is from the top of the hill looking down. I have a whole slew of hostas I plan to plant down this hill to frame in the fairy garden and terraces.

Looking south, I have a sloping path that leads up the hill and down to "The Point" as we've always called it. It probably needs a better name, but that's what it has for now. It would be fun to make this a stony path. 

So here's the actual Point. Normally, there are two cricks running here, and this is where they merge. This has been the driest fall and winter we've had since we built in '05-06, and the first time these have been empty since then. The smaller crick coming in from the east is usually minimal, which makes it an easy spot for frogs to lay eggs. The boys had lots of fun with tadpoles over the years.

Here's the path up the Point, and the path back down to the Pink Bench. Again, steps and stony paths would be amazing!

Probably best I do some of this before the water comes back!

Here are the materials I've collected for the project. Several landscaping stones, bricks and concrete chunks. Lots more concrete chunks available if I need them. I might also talk to my landscaper friend and see if any of her clients are getting rid of old stuff when she redoes their projects. 

I also have some trails that are starting to slope downhill, and they're getting hard to mow. It might be time to figure out some retaining walls that have better retaining properties than these old 2x4's! But the dreams never end, do they?

My Stars Aligned!!

It has been many, many years since I've had so much good occur in one afternoon! I've wanted a nice campsite out back for many years. I have my trails and peaceful places out back, but those have changed over the years. When we got here in '07, I had a few trails around hundreds of sunflowers and saplings, then the boys started paying attention to where I was going and they started clearing more trails and making more open spaces. A lot of clearing finally started happening in 2010-2011. They had a really nice open area and a nice trail down the "island." I didn't know they were calling it that... I found that out later! They acquired an old dryer drum and had themselves a great spot for campfire cookouts. In fact, two of our best family times occurred right before the flood in the Spring of 2011. They had been working really hard getting things cleared and knocked down, and then invited everyone to a party that we had very little food to sustain! Morgan called everyone back and had found they had enough odds and ends to hold the cookouts, so we did! We have never regretted that. It took us a whole year to rebuild and come back after the flood, but then we knew how important the campsite would be. Michael works for a landscaping company that came out and totally reconfigured our land so that we have berms and proper drainage to keep us a bit drier through the wet seasons. What a huge blessing that has been! There was a 22 year old kid that loved nothing more than moving dirt, so he and Mat got the campsite exactly the way we wanted it! That's when definitions came into play and we started calling it The Point, since it's not really an island!

Anyway, after the flood, we continued to lose trees that had just been too waterlogged to continue. The worst one just came out this spring. It was absolutely huge and had broken at the top and was just hanging there. Again, some guys that loved nothing more than taking down trees were coming by and needed my dad to weld a door on their excavator. They took out the big tree, but they had to take out about 7 smaller trees around it to get to it. That's when I lost my really great main trail. I also lost my only redbud to the flood, so my guys bought me three new redbuds for Mother's Day to get my trails started again. This sure has been the spring and summer for planting new trees! We planted more than 24 trees around the property and have hardly had to water them at all.  

So back to the campsite: Mom found some landscaping blocks for 40 cents each and was starting a firepit in her yard. It was a little painful that her dream was coming true so much faster than mine, but I suppose that's the reward after your kids aren't home anymore! But after she got hers done, she sent Mat after the rest of the blocks for my birthday. There were 138 left! When he picked them up, someone was there with a skid loader and they just picked up the whole shebang and loaded it into his truck! And here's where my stars really aligned: About 10 minutes after I got home, Anthony and Kolton stopped by and Mat asked them if they would come help unload them. I followed them out there and we all decided that we'd just arrange them as we went instead of piling and rearranging later. We got them the way I thought I wanted them, and then Mat asked them if they'd be willing to go get a load of sand by a farm on the river to fill in between the blocks. While they were gone, I got the garden pavers that we've been making every year at family camp and arranged them within the bricks. As the boys got to the sand piles, they met up with the owner and his scoop! He just scooped them a load of sand and dropped it right in the back of Mat's truck! While they were gone, my dad showed up with his chainsaw to start taking care of all the big branches of the downed tree that we've been mowing around all summer. When the guys got back with the sand, Morgan and Kolton helped me with that, and Mat and Anthony helped with the wood. It was dark by the time we were all done, and I was certainly sore, but I am just so pleased with the way things are going! We still need one big bonfire to take care of the huge brush pile, but that's supposed to happen soon.  

Love my family, love my land!!

A Christmas Angel

Although I never take time for my blog any more, I wanted to stop and say thank you to an angel who blessed me this week.  

It was an overwhelming gift, and very timely.  In an effort to feel a little more worthy of such a blessing, as well as an effort to pay it forward, my first purchase was to bless a shut in who couldn't make it to church yesterday.  I just wanted to stop by and say hi to her, but since you chose to bless me, I chose to buy her a little something to let her know that folks are thinking about her and that we are blessed by her presence and saddened by her absence.

So, dear Angel, I really hope you're reading this and know that your blessings are very well received!

Mallory's Very Close Call

Pretty hard to believe she walked away from this one.  She was on her way to choir today, from home to Sidney.  Gravel has just been put down on the east side of a bridge along the baseline, and unless you remember it's there, this is what can happen.  The bridge just has enough rise to hide the gravel from east bound traffic.  It was very loose, and at a normal speed for the baseline, Mallory hit the gravel and lost control.

After she spun on the road, she went in the ditch sideways and flipped, landing right side up.  She saw a lot of smoke, so she quickly got out of the car.  She decided it was only the air bags smoking, so she went back for her phone to call me.  It was in the back seat with the stereo.  Eeek!  It took a little while to get ahold of me, but the boys and I jumped in the car and took off.  At one point, Matthew mentioned that a second accident wouldn't help us much.  Yeah.

There are her skid marks going into the ditch and her car being pulled out.

The sheriff actually said we could take her home before the wrecker got there, so we did.  Grandma was just getting off work in Nebraska City when this all happened, so she came straight over.  About the time I pulled in the driveway, I noticed Mallory still holding her key, so I got her in the house and tucked in for Grandma to take over and ran the key back to the scene.  We watched her poor little Honda get loaded up and hauled off.

We let her rest for a little bit and then took her in for a check over.  She had some full body X-rays and found her neck a little messed up, but generally in good condition.  We had X-rays from a year ago to check them against, so that really told us a lot.  They checked her over for a concussion and were fairly satisfied that she didn't have one.  She has some bruises appearing here and there, including a nice shadow of a seat belt, and for that I am extremely grateful!!

Languid

Just feeling down today.  The family's apart and I seem to be pining away for them!  Not intentionally, as if anyone ever is, but even with two rowdy boys, the mood is down.  Even a tax refund check didn't lift spirits very long, even though it covered a lot of bills!  Well, one really big one and a smaller one, anyway.  I should feel amazingly uplifted... but still... just a bit sad.  Haven't really had enough time since losing Bonnie, either.  And then the weather... ugh... who isn't depressed by that??  It's supposed to be spring, people!!
Well, we have lots of plans for tomorrow, so I'm hoping we'll be too busy to feel down in the dumps.  

Happy Sweet 16 Mallory!

 Well, it's been quite a day!  My little Mallory turned 16 years old.  I don't know how slow we seem to think time should go, but I think it should be slower than this.  Maybe something more like first grade.  First grade seemed to take FOR.EV.ER.  Why not the babies??
Anyway, she's on her way out to California now to see her other grandma, and she is so excited.  They have been talking about this for a couple years now, and she's finally on her way.  Pastor Norm showed us flightaware.com, so we've been watching her flight since AWANA started tonight!  She has a few more minutes to go!
But anyway... we did other things today, too.  She started off in band.  I had texted the teacher that this was her birthday and it sounds like they sang to her, too!  Then, after band, we met up with her and went to the courthouse to get her driver's license!!  Always an amazing rite of passage!  At that point, she was free to drive herself home, but she instead chose to drive her daddy home.  She's so funny!
Well, I'm sure other things happened today, but they have faded.  Thought I'd post one more photo that shows once and for all that she truly did receive my good looks!!  

Another Tuesday

My daughter was absolutely thrilled yesterday when she caught me on my blog again.  I don't know why!  We were on the couch last night having some good "girl time" while the guys were at Scouts.  She's been working on some stuff for her dad lately and she was working in front of the TV last night.  They are trying to organize an inventory system that is actually published by their supplier, and the data is entered on an iPad.  Michael knows what he wants it to do, and the girl-who's-had-an-iPad-since-they-came-out is trying to make it happen.  They are quite a team. 
This morning has been less than bright.  We're all still pretty down about Bonnie, and that makes it hard to really accomplish anything.  They say that they got school "done" but that's all a matter of opinion.  They might also be taking advantage of the fact that I'm not feeling up for my normal fight, either.  Probably a good day for a big family project or something.  A couple things I know I should be doing, but it's so hard when you're just feeling SO SAD.  Maybe I should be looking through my scrapbooking stuff and make sure I'm ready for camp.  That's coming up soon.  Never soon enough!  Mallory's planning on going with me, so that will be fun.  Not sure she knows that we'll probably be taking her car!  Oh, well.  Maybe she'll drive for me!  Either way, it will be fun and couldn't possibly come soon enough.  

Long, sad day

It's been another tough one.  This morning we awoke to find the sun rising on the lifeless body of our beloved Bonnie in the driveway.  There really isn't any way to describe the way a moment like that just stops you in your tracks.  The plans for the day just didn't matter anymore.  Details became irrelevant.  The other two dogs seemed to be lifted when we came out.  They seemed sure that we could fix her.  As events played out, they seemed to get how sad we were and that there was nothing we could do, either.  We put her on the bike hill where we've put so many kitties.  We wish Clyde could be there, too, but we lost him while our house was under water.  Our friends buried him at their house, so he's safe.
Well, like I said, it's been a rough one.
On a stranger note, my daughter has been watching "Touch" for a while on Netflix and I just decided to watch it tonight for the first time.  She said I'd really like it.  Now, the creepy part... for those who don't remember...  The pilot episode took place on March 18.  =/ 
Oh, and one more thing... I made another attempt at the mozzarella cheese today.  Gave myself permission to go off on a tangent, I suppose.  Made it a little farther this time.  I had a lot of curds, but then had to leave for an appointment before it was ready!  But the Chef was still home, so he picked up the process.  He never really got a cohesive ball of cheese, but it tasted pretty good.  It was more like ricotta in texture, so I decided to make a Manicotti.  We've never had a better manicotti than this one!!  The cheese came out rather sweet, in a way.
Anyway, it certainly ended the day on a brighter note.

Seriously?

So how long does it take most people to move into a new home?  I mean, essentially, that's what we had.  It was all repainted and most of the flooring was replaced, and it was totally empty!  So why, 5 months later, do I still have so much unpacking to do??  We even had more basement space added, but still... You'd think I'd be happily moving on with my life.  

We just had the electrician finish installing the humidifier on the furnace, so he should be done with his part, except that we may be adding an all-house generator.  We'd been tossing the idea around and even have it approved in the loan, but still, it comes with quite a hefty price tag.  Then we had the rain the other night and water gushing into the basement.  Now imagine no sump pump to get it back out during a power outage.  Also keeping in mind, we're at the end of the power line:  If anything happens anywhere along the lines, we lose!  So it's probably a go.  Really no sense in going to all the work we have if the basement is going to have an inch of water every time it rains.

But at least the burn ban has been lifted!  We spent the better part of a whole morning burning all the boxes and packing that had been piling up.  That gave us some room to do some more unpacking!  Our box pile is now back up to huge, and we now have 40 mph wind!  

When we moved in, nearly everything that was not critical got stacked in my new scrapbooking room.  You can imagine what that looked like!  Then, one day while I was gone, my mom and Matthew cleared out a huge spot to set up my cutting table so we could get some fair projects going.  That was sweet!  Then, as we slowly unpacked the rest of the house, you guessed it, more stuff piled in the scrapbooking room!  Things are slowly getting cleared out.  After a year in storage and another 5 months stored around here, you really second guess what's important and what you can live without!  We are throwing tons of stuff out, and it feels so good to live smaller.  I'm trying to organize more and save less.  I know it's going to feel amazing in the end.  I should just be glad I didn't end up on Hoarders.

I was doing a pretty good job getting things cleared and moved in the scrapbooking room yesterday when Matthew decided to come help.  There are a lot of things he'd rather do than homework.  Go figure!  Anyway, we had to stop for Cubbies, but then spent another couple hours down there after we got home.  I now have two dressers to clean up and start using.  Those should go far!  I'm really looking forward to more time down there.  It comes along fast when you can really give it the time!  The next step has to involve some deep cleaning.  The tote lids are all grimey from spending a year in storage and everything is covered with dust and web-clods.  I'm waiting for the car to be serviced and hopefully Matthew is finishing his homework so we can get back to it when I get home!

We were supposed to have a campfire tonight at our house, but with this wind, it has moved to G-ma's house.  And I had almost found the dining room!!  Oh, well, my family will still appreciate it if I keep trying!


  

Almost done!

Well, up at 6, which doesn't sound too bad...
One to band in Sidney at 8:15, ran an international package to the Post Office while I was waiting.
Got her home, changed and on to work at Nebraska City.  Stop at chiropractor for a quick tune up.
Back home to pick up two boys for band in Sidney at 10:42, picked up State Fair items while I was waiting.
Home for lunch.  
Back to Nebraska City to pick up One, back home to get her and Two and get them to Sidney for a Pep Rally.  Played a little Frogger while I was waiting.
Back home, then to Nebraska City to check in on a friend and stop at the grocery store.
Back home, have a little supper in 6 min or less, now to Percival to pick up another band member and get them to Sidney for the football game.
I am now home in my jammies waiting for another call to pick up said band members.  Oh, yes, I am picking them up in my jammies!!
Hmmm... appears they are out on the road looking for me...
Can't wait for this day to be over!!!

ooooohhhh, my phone...

Well, no one is happy when their phone malfunctions, I know, but I guess I just like to think it traumatizes me more than the average unorganized person!  Anyway, my "off" button hadn't been working well, but Monday (at the Iowa State Fair) it just wouldn't shut off at all.  I turned the settings way down to automatically sleep after a minute, but then I had to be super careful not to touch anything for a minute while it did.  So I spent a long day at the fair like that, then as we were totally drained and leaving, I decided to stop at Jordan Creek on the way home and see if they could help.  Well, of course they could.  They gave me a new phone.  YAY!!  ... and grrrrrr.  Well, because we're on a business account, they couldn't fully activate it there at the Apple Store, but there was a Verizon store in the same mall.  Hmmm... 8:57, really?  So I sent Morgan running on ahead to tell them this really was an emergency and to please wait for me.  Problem:  Mallory and I noticed a GameStop between us and Verizon.  8:59... Please, no!  But yes, he stood there, frozen in a trance, staring at the GameStop as the Verizon doors were being pulled closed!  Well, he snapped out of his trance (may have been due to the shriek of his mother) and got over there, but the guy was telling him that everything was shut down and there really wasn't anything that could be done.  As I got there, he really was waiting for me, but looked pretty helpless!  He took my new phone and dialed a few numbers, the same one the Apple Techs did, but somehow it worked for him!  And I was on my way!  I turned around to gather my kids, and Morgan was actually on his way back to me, dragging himself along.  Apparently, he thought GameStop would stay open for him just like Verizon did for me!
I'm really thinking this PhotoStream is amazing.  My last phone backup was 11:30 the night before, so I would have lost all the photos I took at the fair, but there they were... safely tucked away in the Cloud!  

Thinking...

I think it's just pretty hard to imagine an evacuation if you haven't been through one.  My heart truly aches for the people of Colorado and Western Nebraska.  When they left their homes, they literally had only a few hours to decide what meant the most to them.  And if they had as many pets as I did, I know what that can mean.  Not only did we have 48 hours to get out, we also had about 28 days to go back and gather up anything we could.  I don't know if they get any trips back while waiting, but it's so hard either way.  We just received an update from my cousin that her folks are being evacuated for the second or third time this summer, with a possibility that their neighbor's farm just burned.

We're starting to settle in, but busy with summer at the same time.  I finally got to some of my knick-knacks and momentos this past week, and was pretty devastated to see my kitty-cat Nativity totally crushed.  It was one of those things that was lucky to get any newspaper at all.  A few things were rolled here and there, but tossed in a shoebox and that's it.  While it's so wonderful to be past this very trying time, I also feel like I never will be.  My house is so scarred, but it stands.  And my family is fine.  We're moving on with birthdays and getting ready for school.  If a homeschooling mom can ever be ready for that.  I'm sure it's just me that gets three weeks in before starting my lesson planning!!

Anyway, just another sleepless night and that's who and what came to my mind.

Going to go try again.  Good night and God bless!!  Please continue to pray for my cousin's parents!

Home and Away!

I can't believe what it takes to update this!  I used to love my blog, now I never get a chance to write!!

WELL... we are home!!  There are so many people to thank for making this happen!  We only have a few details left to finish up, which is going faster than the SBA paperwork!  They have a different hoop for me every week.  We're on a title search right now.  I had to "record" the mortgage with the Secretary of State last month, then they would send it to the county level so the Title Company could run its search.  Only, it doesn't work that way.  Not even sure what that step proved.  This week, I had to "record" a new, updated mortgage with the county so the Title Company could run the search.  This involved a notarized letter that they sent me that they said I wouldn't ever really need.  I actually have a file of papers they say I won't need.  It was in there.  Amongst the 50,000 boxes that I have yet to unload...  Anyway, I feel bad that all these contractors have to wait so long to be paid.  I actually have to pay them, then prove to the SBA that I have paid them, then I get the money.  Kinda cute, huh?

So, we moved in last weekend.  We've been here for one full week now!!  YAY!!  When we were packing, we knew that Mallory would be leaving for Florida before we could ever really unpack, so she was careful to pack everything separately that she would need for her trip.  She was up at 3:30am and in the shower and we got to the school on time... only to find that she forgot her flute!  This is a band trip!!  I ran back for her flute and she is off on her first adventure!  Doing much better than her mom, I'm sure!  It was in true Mallory style:  I arrived with her forgotten flute and she took it, said thanks, and turned to get on the bus!  I had to call her back for a hug!  She is so adventurous!!

It has taken a lot to hang in there this past year.  Next week will be one full year since the evacuation.  I've been holding it together this whole time and my daddy said that if I did that, I could have a breakdown when I got home.  Well, I'm home and my daughter is gone and I'm ready for that breakdown!  It's time for one!!  Except there are all these boxes... and I have a ladybug cake... I guess in normal "MOM" fashion, you just have to keep going.  But, I AM eventually going to cash in on that breakdown, just so you know! 

Progress!

Wow, it has really been a while since I updated this!!! This weekend, Michael's Landscapes friends are out pushing dirt around, making water drain in all the right directions! We had a friend bring in 40 scraper loads of dirt from my grandpa's field, and then it sat during the rain last week. We had sump pumps out in the yard trying to drain it out before the weekend! They are managing just fine, sometimes even pushing a great deal of water straight to the ditch. They are bringing dirt up to the front, too, where we always seem to have a lake when it rains. We carved a ditch through the driveway, so you have to drive very slowly, but they have better plans! They're bringing the dirt up high enough to drain over the driveway!

On the inside: WE HAVE FLOORS!!! Matthew and I removed everything from the walls to get ready for the drywaller to come this week. There are cracks everywhere from the lifting and almost every screw popped out, so it's going to be a bigger job than we thought. Then, painting! I have never let anyone paint for me, but this time we're having it done professionally. We have a friend in the business of painting and he's going to make it happen as quickly as possible. It's still really expensive, but he'll be done so much faster than I ever could. He's going to take my doors to his shop and do them up right. This is really hard for me, but it sounds like he's more of a perfectionist than me, so I should be fine. What a control freak, right??
Mom and I are going to soak down the wallpaper borders this afternoon, then the boys and I are going to hang some insulation in the doorway down to their rooms. We may have an electrician come out and teach them a little about wiring for their Boy Scout merit badge work.

Many of you have asked me to let you know when you can help, and believe me, I am not forgetting that!! It's been pretty hard on me, too, because there's really nothing that we can do! I've mostly been tied up with paperwork, but am able to help out here and there. It's really going to be an on the spot call for the cleaning. I don't know what the window will be, but as soon as the drywaller is done, I need to get everything cleaned up and wiped down before the painter starts. That could be a few hours or a few days, I just don't know right now. All I know is that I'm going to ask everyone that I remember offering help if it gets the painter started sooner!!

Anyway, I have to get going! A bulldozer broke down last night and my dad and his friend are on the way over there. If they're going to be working on a Sunday morning, I better get over there, too!

Forward!

The guys finished the basement on Wednesday and Thursday, including the new wall in the garage. School was out in Ne City on Friday, so we took Matthew's new buddy home and he helped us scrub the mold off the studs in the bedrooms. No simple task there. Plus, it was so cold in there that we could hardly move! We snagged a couple small heaters from my dad and kept plugging away. My cousin told me about a mold killer, disinfectant and mold barrier all in one, so we found that, but it was supposed to be attached to the end of a garden hose. Since we don't have water hooked up, we got a chemical sprayer and mixed a little with water and saturated, scrubbed, then rinsed with the same stuff. It smelled like about half bleach, so I'm trusting it will do the job!! About the time I was exhausted and dizzy, I started getting phone calls and had to stop to organize all the different crews and plans. When I came back, the boys had it all done! Talk about timing!!

We also now have a door on the basement leading out, but no top door yet. Please pray for moisture to hold off so it won't fill the new basement! We are also on a standstill until the back yard dries up a bit. The basement stairway out isn't long enough for the staircase, so we need the back to dry up so they can get some trucks in there to extend it. This isn't the kind of thing that happens in the spring, so much prayer will be needed for that to proceed. Going back over there today to see about some holes getting filled that we found while cleaning. No wonder it was so cold in the bedrooms!!

It couldn't last forever!

Well, the snow stopped the wonderful progress!  Last week was so perfect for pouring concrete that the guys had to get one more project in Thursday.  So, Matthew and I took the opportunity to get a little early burning in!

We certainly had a lot of overgrowth this summer.  There also seems to be a ton of spiders.  No love lost torching those!!

The Friday rains also brought a muddy back yard and the cement truck couldn't get to the basement to pour the new floors.  The weekend snow didn't really help, either!  They're planning on building a chute to take it in through the garage tomorrow.  Sure hope that works.  I'm really anxious to keep going.  I never expected it to take this long and can't believe how far we still have to go.

The SBA called with progress on the loan.  Which is little.  We'll get a small chunk sometime next week, but lots more paperwork before it can really move.  I am happy to say that the money does seem to come in as the bills do.  It's just too bad that it's only a LOAN!  But it's a better loan than our current mortgage, so we are just calling ourselves blessed and moving on with things.  It's so hard to deal with everything and just be so unsettled at the same time.  Michael had to come to me looking for light bulbs tonight.  I couldn't even tell him where to find them!  Our lives right now are just hither and yon and no one really knows where anything is!

One day...

Anyway, we continue to praise God through the storm and the rebuilding.  I can't see His plan at the moment, but I will forever believe that He is in control, and that none of this is my home anyway!  Thanks to those who continue to pray for us and send help our way.  We all pray that we will be able to pay it forward in the future.

Unexpected floor...

Well, I thought I was waiting for indoor floors, but instead I have a new garage floor!  It wasn't in the plan at all, and actually added about $3000 to the project, which we did NOT need!!!  However, we just had so many problems compounding on each other that there really didn't seem to be any choice in the matter.

I'm a little surprised I have this picture, but I know why I took it.  It was one of those times where I wondered how they were going to do that.  The new basement wall didn't line up with the old upper wall, so there was nowhere for the bedroom/garage wall to set.  Originally, they were going to carve about 4ft into the garage concrete so the new basement wall would be under the original wall, but the footings were some 8ft thick, so they didn't go all the way.  Not a clue what the plan was, but I see why they couldn't go there!  So now there was going to have to be some kind of flat concrete pad laid to build a new wall where the old one had been.  

We were also looking at some problems outside to the west.  We raised the house 2ft, but you can't really bring the garage floor up.  That leaves a lot of room for water to travel around and do the very same damage we're trying to repair and divert!  By bringing the floor up with this concrete pad, then sloping the entire floor, we could solve both problems!  Again, a rather pricey solution!

We were also quite pleased that it solved yet two more problems on the other side of the garage.  There wasn't going to be enough space for steps into the mudroom without affecting a walkthrough garage door to the east.  With this raised floor, we eliminated the need for the extra step that would have extended to the middle of the walkthrough door.  It also met up with the new concrete that was going on outside and allowed our walkthrough door to swing freely over it.  We were having severe problems with that door catching on the sidewalk anytime the weather changed.  

Tell me, when was the last time you've heard of concrete being poured outside in January and February???  God has been so good to us to give us such great weather for rebuilding!!  We thought we'd have a basement floor poured by now, but the guys were quick to divert attention to things that aren't normally done until April.  God was super awesome to do this for us, because without at least the beginning of this floor, we wouldn't be able to build the bedroom/garage wall without somehow heating the garage.  Just amazing.

I also need to point out that this would not be possible without the many gifts from many friends.  The SBA is still goofing around with my paperwork, even requiring me to get signed statements from my contractors that they are equal opportunity employers!!  Without our friends, we would still be waiting for funding to come through to begin this work.  Our thanks to our friends and to our God, from whom all blessings flow!!

Next!

Back down!
We have the house back on its foundation and hope to start working soon!  We've been doing some cleaning and hauling off debris, but now we feel like things can really start to move.  We're anxious to get the basement steps and the floor joists in.  As soon as the holes are plugged from the lifting beams, we can get the new furnace in and keep things moving along that are contingent on heat!  We'll see how things go the rest of the week!

...ooops!

New Basement

This is what was going on Saturday!!  They got 6 full courses up and were planning to finish today.  Haven't been over there yet, but these guys are no slackers!  I'm sure we'll see it done today!!

 

Pouring footings!

These were actually taken on Tuesday, but in my normal running-all-the-time mode, I'm just now getting to the posting part!  We might actually have some walls by now!  They finished the footings that day and said they needed to cure for a day or two, then they would need to haul all the bricks down by hand.  I was going to gather up some neighborhood boys and see if they needed help with that, but I ended up taking a trip to the Apple Store instead.  That is always helpful!  Computer seems to be okay, but might reinstall the operating system when I get done here.  Anyway...  think I might see how early the neighborhood boys get up and if we can be of any help.  I know we need to be cutting off some nails so they can replace the seal plate, but have no idea how one would go about doing that.  But I just might learn!