Digging Trenches

It's been a while since I last posted, but it seems as though the yard crew has been digging ditches for the gas and electric lines forever. The masons can't continue with building the benches or firepit until the gas lines are in. In the meantime, our cable line has been damaged twice, the irrigation in the courtyard has been broken, and we came home one day this week to no electricity outside or in the master bath (due to a blown GFI and breaker that they didn't tell us about or reset). But, we're pretty happy with the progress. The crew has been working almost every day from sun up to sun down.

Above is a photo of the ramada so far.

Pictures Of Our Level Yard

It doesn't seem like it should be such a big deal to have a flat yard, but after months of staring at a huge mound of dirt out the kitchen window, not being able to open the 3 backyard doors, and watching a moat fill with mud, yessiree this is a big deal to me.

Doesn't it look great?!

We had a meeting with the project supervisor today and he says that they're shooting for completion by Christmas. At least that means that it might look somewhat nice by then even if it's not completely done.

Finally! The Yard Is Level!

The last few days, very good progress has been made. The masons finished the retaining wall, it passed inspection, and they filled it with cement. The very next day, two tractors arrived at 6:20 am and pushed the giant mound of fill dirt into the yard. They called for more dirt which was delivered that same day and they filled the entire yard and compacted the dirt.

Today, the masons were back doing the rebar framing for the additional two interior ramada columns. One of the guys mentioned, "Maybe by next month???...." I wonder....

Anyway, now when you're standing outside, you can actually envision the final configuration and it's amazing. It will be so relaxing and beautiful.

The Great Wall

The masons have been here all week and during the weekend building The Great Wall. I could not believe how many blocks they delivered! Shane even called the pool company to make sure they remembered that we were installing a wrought iron wall, not a block wall. But, now we see why they needed so many. The retaining wall is HUGE! (See Shane standing in the yard against the wall?) Now, I bet they'll need more fill dirt.

The picture of the piles of blocks was taken while I was standing inside the garage. I guess we won't be parking our cars in there for a while!