| Yikes! Things are actually happening. No more boring shots of gray concrete block and big piles of dirt. There's a pile of lumber on site. The window wells are in, Mark and Chris have started framing in the basement, and a lot of the backfill is done. It's going to start looking like something other than a really big hole pretty soon. |
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They did a lot of backfilling with the backhoe, but couldn't get to some of the areas, such as past the window wells. The poor guy shoveling dirt in the background is doing the backfill by hand. If I got to work in the morning and saw a pile of dirt that big and an empty wheel barrow, I'd probably just go home. |
| Here's an Action Photo of guys working.
Mark and Chris are attaching the plate to the foundation. They couldn't get termite-proof, pressure treated wood in the correct size, so they had to do their own termite treatment, coating the wood with this horrible green stuff. |
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| You may be able to make out the ladder inside the left window well. We'd like to plant English Ivy in the window wells so we aren't staring out at the corrugated steel. |
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| On Friday, February 7, 2003, it's finally starting to look like something. Mark and Chris, with the assistance of Ernie, spent Friday hanging joists. The project is finally beginning to look like something other than a big hole in the ground. And the nine-foot ceilings are great! It sure doesn't feel like a basement. |
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| Here's Leisa, surveying the job on Friday evening. She asked the question yesterday about whether the grate at the top of the window well would support someone. She's answered her own question. |
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| By the beginning of next week, we'll no longer have the romantic view of the moon through the skylight. Instead, we'll get a great view of CDX plywood, or oriented strand board--I'm not sure of what material the floor will be comprised. |
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Justin is back in school. As previously reported, he is on long-term suspension from Alhambra. We withdrew him last week and signed him up at a charter school called International Commerce Institute. Leisa and I visited the school a couple of times and talked with the administrator. We were impressed with her attitude, as well as the school itself. If J applies himself, he can graduate a year from now by his eighteenth birthday.
Aside from having her picture scattered around the site occasionally, Brittany doesn't get much play here. It's her turn. Leisa and I came home from Costco yesterday with a pizza for dinner. Brittany came bouncing into the kitchen to show us her Certificate of Academic Excellence. It's one step above boring ole honor roll--awarded only to students with a perfect 4.0 average. We had a parent teacher conference last week. It was pretty short, because the only thing her teacher had to say was that he wished he had twenty or thirty more kids like B!
Brittany was tested Thursday morning for the school district's gifted program. She was tested two years ago for the gifted program, but missed it by "that much." We will keep you apprised of her status.
