Definitely NOT Arrested Development...

I can't even start to explain how exciting my life is at this moment. We drove out to the land again last night, and this was the situation...

That's right. They've got the outside part of the wall forms done. It's amazing what has happened since last Thursday night. Things are moving along quite well!

More Developments

So we went to the land Friday night to take some pictures of the work that they had done on Thursday, only to find out that they had done MORE work! That's always a good sign. They removed the boards from the footings, and put down the weeping tile and then filled everything in with gravel.


We also had called the guys that did the driveway and had them come out and take a look and see why the driveway was sinking so badly. We went there yesterday (Sunday) and saw that they had fixed up the driveway...we're worried now as to what that's going to cost us...

A Matter of L & D

Okay. I've got some updating to do.

Since the last posting about the land, a few more things have gone on. The last post was about the driveway, and how we were now able to drive onto the land, and the fact that they emptied our flooded dugout onto my brother's land. Oh, and about the way my dad "tore up" the driveway. Well, some big truck or machine or something did a much better job of tearing up the driveway than my dad did. I unfortunately don't have any pictures of the driveway being ripped up, but believe me, it's pretty bad. We're talking 1-foot deep ruts at the approach. Oh well. I guess we shouldn't really be complaining. At least that tells us that something's been happening.

Anyway, we had gone there a few times after they were finished draining the "pool" and one of those times we met the guy that was doing the concrete work. He was there one night digging a hole where the water would drain into, instead of sitting in the basement area. He told us that he would have to let it dry for a bit before he could dig down any further. We told him we were fine with that, and that we wanted it done right, and that we weren't in any REAL rush. He told us that the builder had told him that we were riding him, wanting things to get moving faster...lol. We figure that Lyle is just trying to keep this guy on track because he has his own guys that have to get stuff done as well. We laughed and told him that we weren't in a rush by any means (I may be, but not to the point that I would be rushing a builder or anything like that).

We decided that we were wasting way to much gas driving out to the land every night after work, just to see if anything had been done. That lasted for maybe 1 day. We went out to the land Monday this week, and nothing had happened since we talked to that guy. Tuesday we didn't end up going out there (that's the 1 day that we decided that we were wasting gas...). Wednesday curiousity got the best of us so we travelled out to see what, if anything, had happened. We had gone home first and decided that we would take Sneakers for a ride too.

When we got there, the only thing that was different was that there was a machine sitting beside the hole, and some 2x10s and little stakes beside it. It was still the same hole that we had seen every other time.

Last night (Thursday) we stopped by Curtis and Crystal's place to pick up an Aloette order, and ended up staying there talking for a while, so by the time we started to head home, it was already 8:15 or so. Ryan asked me if we should go by the land, and I told him that we could just go out there Friday night. I started looking through some flyers, and looked up just in time to see us blow by our turn to go home. So out to the land we went.

We got there and it didn't look like anything had been done, although the tractor that was in one spot the night before, was moved into a different spot. We walked down our now torn up driveway, got closer to the hole...and realized that they had already poured the footings! And of course, because we were there at about 8:45 or so, the sun was starting to set, so any pictures I took looked like they were taken at about midnight.

I was really excited. When I asked Ryan if he was excited, and this was the look I got:

We can't wait to get out there after work today, if only to take better pictures of what yesterday's work produced.

Here's a shot of what looking out our living room windows at sunset would look like...the last one would be what it would look like if we had a stalker.

He's just some kid I know...

And he's one.

He's looking at his candle like he can't believe he's already old.

That, or he's going to be a pyro...

Within minutes he's finally accepted the fact that he's getting older, and he's okay with it.

He's also decided to eat as if nobody's watching. That boy LOVES his strawberries!

The Driveway

Well, we can now officially drive onto our property, as you can see in the pictures below. I'm still having a hard time picture the house on the land, but Ryan reassures me by saying "it'll be right there" and points to the hole in the ground. Thanks honey! Oh, and he's making me apologize to him for a comment that I made in my "Everything House: The Plans" entry. I said: If you ask me now just where it was, I would have no idea. Ryan likes to think that he knows, but I don't think he really does. Well, I am apologizing to him because he actually did know where it was. We went there a few weeks ago and found the house. He wanted to go and knock on the door and see if we could go and take a look. Um, ya right.

Anyway, here are the pictures of our land as it is right now. They've already had a there in the hole pumping out the water from our "pool"...right onto the land beside ours...which happens to be my brother's property. Oh well!

My dad, of course, had to be the first one of us to drive on the driveway. He also decided that he would be the first one to spin his tires and create some ruts. Refer to the culvert post to see what he did when we put our approach in.

Here is the pump they had in the hole pumping out the water that was underneath the ice and onto my brother's property.

I LOVE eBay!

I think I'm addicted to eBay.

I've decided to put some of my auction purchases (the license plates and a bunch of souvenir spoons) up for auction on eBay, to see if I can make my money back. I'm quite excited about it, and it makes me want to go to more auction sales around town, and buy stuff and throw it on eBay to see what happens. I've even started running around the house looking at stuff saying "I could sell that...and that...and THAT!". Ryan isn't sure what's worse - hearing me say I want to buy something, or hearing me say I want to sell something...he's not quite sure what to think.

Seriously, if you want good entertainment (and it's free as long as you don't bid on anything) go to an auction sale. It's so funny too see how much people will spend on something that to you seems a little silly (yes, I did spend $5 on a milk-crate full of license plates...I never said that I wasn't the entertainment). I'll send out an email next time we're going to an auction to see if there's any takers.

From Pool to Skating Rink

It's been a while since I've updated anything here. Not much has gone on with the land. Since they broke ground for the first time, they were unable to continue digging due to the frost still being in the ground. So we've had to sit and wait until that melted. Well, when the snow finally melted because of all of that nice weather we had, the ground was too soft for them to do anything, because if they tried going on the with machines, they would sink...and nobody wants that! If that wasn't bad enough, all of the water from the melting snow went directly into the hole, creating our very first pool. Mother Nature then decided that instead of having a pool on our land, she would make it so that we had a skating rink. That's right. All of the water in our "pool" froze, and we now have a skating rink.



When we were told that the machines couldn't go onto the land without having something solid to drive on, we knew that we were going to have to put the driveway in a bit earlier than we had planned. Last night Ryan and I went out to the land to mark out where we wanted to put the driveway. I couldn't believe how cold it was! We were both wearing our toques and mittens, and we both had our longjohns on. I even had a scarf around my face because the wind was so cold. We put our stakes in the ground where we wanted the driveway, and then before leaving, we took a sledgehammer to our "rink" and broke up some of the ice. The guy doing the driveway was supposed to have started the work today. SIXTEEN semi-loads of whatever should be on the land tonight. Whatever they don't finish today they are to finish on Saturday. At least we will be able to drive onto the land now. I'll be sure to post any pictures that we take tonight.