Celebrating the Foundation of Our House

Saturday was our party celebrating the start of building our house. After postponing the party the previous weekend due to rain (and snow) and the failure to pour the foundation concrete we were determined to go ahead no matter the weather. At least this week we had some concrete poured.

After Thursday's fiasco with the concrete truck getting stuck, the road was questionable for any vehicle. Of course it rained more on Friday, making it a big, muddy, bunch of puddles in the mush area. Rob came up with a temporary solution that used wood planks to span the mushy section. Basically, he created a floating bridge so cars could cross the mud without sinking. He laid down boards crosswise from more solid ground, over the rut where the concrete truck got stuck, to the middle of the road which also was firmer. Then longer boards, former power pole cross members, were laid end-to-end over the cross members. These are the boards on the left side in the picture. Additional long boards were set up on the right side. As you can see, this was a great temporary solution. Everybody was able to get across and drive down to the house site for the party

We so appreciate all of our family and friends who joined us at the party. There was a nice break in the weather with the sun coming in and out from behind clouds, though it was pretty nippy. Those who came enjoyed a winter picnic, the beautiful green hills and some early wildflowers. It was also a great time to see the creek

All the rain has raised the level of the creek to its highest level this season. A few people and a couple of dogs had fun checking it out. Niece Alyssa dipped her feet in, though I don't know if that was on purpose or not. Fraka and Tom's dog, Marmite, was ecstatic playing on the shores. Fraka said Marmite was bouncing up and down and running around in circles, ultimately running in to the creek water

A highlight of the day was the creation of remembrance stepping stones. Rob built some forms the size of patio pavers. On Saturday he mixed up some concrete, poured it into the forms, and our friends and family members wrote remembrances in the concrete. The idea was inspired by the concept of placing a special foundation stone commemorating the setting of the foundation of the house. The stepping stones will become part of our patio and will be a wonderful reminder of everyone who shared in the celebration of the laying of the foundation of our house. Everybody was so creative in the design of their stepping stones. They're really cool and I'm thinking it would be nice to create some more. I'm looking forward to being able to put them into our patio.