Our Foundation - progress

Well, I heard the rumble of the truck before I saw it. Pop had cleared a path all around the hole for the truck to drive and drop down the concrete. The gentleman driving was quite kind (and turned out to be quite talkative after the fact. I offered iced tea and got his family heritage - part Indian, you know?)

Hooking on the extra lengths of chutes....a massive truck next to our little hole

Tom and I are grateful for the assistance of the day. Pop was a huge help. He helped guide the truck, smooth out the concrete, and help getting the rebar posts in for the wall (to be put up next Spring). He worked so hard! I have never done this work, so I took my cue from him. Andres joined us for, I think, his first concrete work. He helped smooth out it out and then proceeded to put his initials and name in several time. We had a good laugh about that.

Andres, who doesn't like to be reminded how he grows an inch a day...I enjoy getting to work with him. The first drop of concrete! Piling it in! Pop & I were following close behind...at least at first. The truck definitely was moving faster than we were!

The concrete filled the forms and then some. We did find that our forms were not quite strong enough to hold up to the concrete, so we quickly added some metal strapping to help. Tom would get a row of it in, while we smoothed the concrete behind him, and while the truck pulled into position for the next side, Tom would get the strapping in place.

Once the truck was gone, Tom shifted his attention to getting the rebar in place for our walls. All that pretty smooth concrete was punctured and then had to be re-smoothed. We were pretty tired and sore when it was all through...