"The Wall"

Today at 7:30 am the truck load came of our inner locking blocks for the retaining wall in the front of the house. The blocks weren't the standard inner locking blocks. There were in 3 different sizes and are very aesthetically pleasing to the eye, instead of the gray ones that lots of people use.

The first course had to be partially buried and we had to work with the original slope from the road.....the first course wasn't the most fun because it had to be perfectly level!

We finished by the end of the day! The wall is about 5 feet tall and 65 feet in length. It was a lot of work. Jason and I rounded up friends as our "crew" and their help was invaluable.
Tomorrow we will glue the caps on the top of the wall and then it will be filled with the back fill from the other side of the house, which is being excavated and terraced.

A view from the back as it is being excavated.

See the terraces?!?!

Here is my raw neck after and entire day working out in the sun....ouch!

The Footing

Yippee! After almost being in our brand new beautiful house we are able and ready to start with the excavation and yard. We live near the top of a hill, which provides breath taking picturesque views of the entire valley. However, it has made the excavation and yard planning a bit tricky. We are doing most of this project ourselves (thank goodness for summer vacation). Today we got the footing in for the front and are ready to build the first rock wall tomorrow. The second one will be in the back of the house after more excavation is completed. We have a crew of friends and family to help with the rock wall tomorrow, so stay tuned for the progress!

Sweet Little Andy

Our family dog, Chelsea, died at the beginning of May from old age. We had her for about 20 years and it was REALLY sad. On the last day of school one of Kristina's (kindergarten) room moms came in with 6 full bred black labs, and she was giving them away for free on the basis that they would go to families where they would be loved and properly cared for. I called my parents to see if they were interested. My dad had a really hard time with the decision as he was Chelsea's primary care giver, and was still having difficulty adjusting to her death. When she died my parents vowed they were done with animals on their acre. However, they were meant to have this cute little guy. These are the pictures of sweet little Andy. I got to hold the litter of pups when they were 5 days old when the room mom brought them in for show and tell. Here Andy is only 8 weeks old. He has a very docile temperament and is just so sweet. It is kinda funny because his siblings were all given away to other teachers too! What a smart group they will grow up to be!