Playing Catch Up

 Good bye Fredmoor home, hello Evart.  This photo seems like a life time ago.
 

Moving Day

So our tidy brick tri-level in the suburbs sold and we closed July 3rd.  We moved the majority of our worldly possessions up to Evart where they have since become causalities of construction dust and grime.  If we had only known, we would have put everything in storage. They will require a serious washing with soap and water. 

 I'm sorry, I digress.  Back to early summer.  Here is our home in Evart before the construction began.

I had forgotten how nice it looked.  The remainder of the summer involved digging a 10 foot trench around the entire perimeter of the house.  There was big excavating equipment and dirt and mud.  The foundation was re wrapped in 6 mil plastic and a tile drain was added around the exterior.  The basement had a trench broken through the cement floor to run a tile drain from the west side of the house to the east side.  Also a septic pump was added.  Then the outside trenches were back filled with pea gravel and sand.  The downspouts were all redirected away from the house.

The cautious exploratory excavation.

Okay now it's beginning to get serious.

Our excavator Scott skillfully maneuvered this behemoth within inches of the foundation without causing serious harm.  Amazing to watch.

It was a monster.

Now you can see how deep the excavator had to go.

The basement trench running from the bedroom on the west side.

The basement trench on the east side with the new sump pump inspection by Linus.  See the blue lines on the floor.  They are where the new walls will go for Jeff's wet bar.

 

No more front porch.

No more front yard!

Order is restored.  The beginnings of the new front porch.  Note the absence of the yawning gap between the house and the sidewalk.  Progress.

We've added stairs off the back deck.

Sadly it is a true construction zone.  Don't those stairs look lovely, though?

The east side of the house.  The air conditioner was returned to it's rightful resting place and reconnected.  The retaining wall was removed. 

Several fresh loads of soil were spread, along with grass seed and straw.  A month later we have green shoots peeking through the straw.  Just in time, for winter is knocking on the door.

The remaining photos are a montage of the summer.  It was gone so quickly.  Farewell!

From the back of our property looking towards the house.

A neighbor cut and baled over 100 4x5 round bales off of our fields.  He came back and did a second cutting at the end of the summer and probably cut another 40 bales.  That is a lot of hay.

This friendly doe was a frequent visitor.  On this day she was intrigued by an unusual disturbance in the grass.  By the way these photos were taken right off our back deck.

Hello?  What is that?

Oh, I see it is the Linus cat.

This is the concrete pad for "new" shed our handy man Bob is making out of the old carport in the background.

Well, November is but a day away.  The work on the house is progressing at a snails pace.  Will it be done in time to host Thanksgiving?  Jeff says no.  I'm reserving judgement.

What do you think Linus?