My Favorite Tennessee Hillbilly

Well construction officially started this week. We had a hole dug on Monday and today I have footings. Things are moving along pretty quickly. Dad and I owe a huge thanks to Vic for that! We never would have been ready for the cement truck today with out him!

Vic came up from his home in Nashville, TN this week to work on his house and garden in Saginaw. He also spent every evening at the lot with Dad and I. He helped us assemble a generator. He helped us sort through a large stack of 2 x 8's to find only the best and straightest. I would say we found more warped boards than straight ones! By the time we started laying the footings we got a pretty good system going. Dad would lay out the forms ahead of us, and Vic and I would measure and pound stakes. I enjoy working with Vic. He and I work very well together. We normally come up with a system and chug along. Vic keeps things lighthearted with his jokes. We obviously don't do things as well as Dad does...but we get the job done. Dad also enjoys working with Vic and will take a day on the job site with Vic any day.

Friday Dad and Vic slaved away finishing the forms while I sat at a desk at work all day. By the time I got to the lot after work they had finished all the forms for both the basement and garage and had the basement levelled. We finished the garage and inserted all the re-steel (reinforcement steel rods).

Today started early. We headed out to do a final level check and final preparations for the pour. We were doing our final level check when I saw a rodent running across my basement! I thought it was a mouse...Vic said, "Oh no, that's a vole!" A vole is similar to a small mole...and they are bad for your garden and plants. They burrow down and eat the roots of your plants. Being the master gardener, Vic said we must do some "vole stomping". Well...let me tell you...the vole made us look like fools. We had three adults chasing, for all intents and purposes, a large mouse around the hole that is my basement...trying to corner it and dispose of it. Those things are FAST! We gave up and continued what we were doing. We can only assume that it went the way of Jimmy Hoffa, in his cement shoes. Or maybe it met it's demise by my cement shovel later in the day. You choose what you want to think. And Jenn...you can assume that it got out and ran away.

Anyway...the cement truck came and we did a lot of shovelling of wet cement. Cement masonry is very hard work...something I'm glad I don't have to do everyday. Vic and I directed the truck driver around the basement and garage, shovelling when needed while Dad did the work to make it look nice and pretty and smooth behind us. As Vic says, we were the untrained labor, Dad is the skilled labor. Dad was not keeping up with the truck so Vic and I had to start being skilled labor, screeding the cement for the garage. As you can see, I have provided pictures to show that I indeed do work out there. :)

After the cement truck was gone we went over everything again to make sure it was level and smooth. That was hard work too. Harder than the first time through. We made it through and were packed up by 1:00...with plenty of time to get to Laura's softball game. :)

I'm pretty worn out after my day of cement work. I think anyone who does this job for a living should be checked for mental instability! I'm sure I'll sleep well tonight. I don't know how my body will feel in the morning...hopefully I'll be able to roll out of bed. Hopefully Vic will be feeling ok tomorrow too...he's riding his bike in a 100 mile bike ride up north! Yes, he's a crazy man...but we know that and accept that and love him anyway. :) I hope we didn't wear him out too much and we hope he'll come back for more!

So far so good! Hopefully we'll have pictures of the basement walls soon!

* I have been corrected...after Dad read this he informed me that it is concrete work...not cement work...as cement is something you use to make concrete