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2004-07-08 - 11:40 a.m.

Construction Time Again, Or Should I Say "Destruction" Time?

July 8/Thursday

Wake up at 6:00, toss & turn until 7:00, get in bed (MY bed) with T&R until 7:45 . . .

. . . waiting . . .

. . . waiting . . .

. . . waiting . . .

JD supposed to be here at 9:30, expected the dudes (the excavation team) here between 7&8 (since you can legally start construction work at 7), but at least by 9.

Almost 10:00, JD comes in and says (a) the dudes had a late night (oh really? I never would have guessed since they were here so EARLY!) so they will be here a little later, and (b) his wife is having an allergic reaction and he has to go home. (I start to panic a little. Shouldn't there be someone with testosterone here to direct the dudes? I can tell them which plants to move, where the water line is and where we think the sewer line might be, which half of the deck to remove, and where the "garage" is supposed to go, but I can't . . . hmmmm . . . I guess I can direct the dudes if I HAVE to. Oh good - they're here now so JD can do it.)

JD talks to the dudes and I give them a check for $2Gs (that makes $10G so far). JD leaves, the rain starts (oh good, the rain starts when they are supposed to start - are they gonna go home now?), and . . . we hear the "roar" of the not-so-big-or-yellow rig's engine starting. Woooohoooo! We are gonna see some dirt flyin' today!

It's a bit later and they've decided that my . . . Phil's . . . actually-another-builder-who-will-remain-nameless's idea of using a crane to move the "garage" might work better than dragging or rolling it with the not-so-big-or-yellow rig. Dude #1 (aka: JV) calls around to some crane companies (who knew there were such things). There's one from Manchester that will cost about $500-600 including travel time (hmm, maybe) and there's one in Dover that is $1,000-a-day (I think not), and a few that we're waiting to hear back from ("we" being JV).

Get out the crane

Construction time again

What is it this time

We're laying a pipeline

Let the beads of sweat flow

Until the ends have met through

Could take a long time

Working on the pipeline

-Depeche Mode, Pipeline from Construction Time Again

The best crane deal yet, $440 minimum (4 hours, including drive time from Dover) plus $50 Maine permit fee (damn you, Maine, and all your permit and impact fees!). It comes on Monday . . . so they say, but do they know?

Later in the day . . . plants get moved, deck gets moved, lawn gets torn up (in a good way), and Stumpy McMaple puts up one hell of a fight but loses in the end. The dudes have "NEVER seen a stump like this one." I'm not sure if I should be proud of that, but I kinda am. They will be telling stories about my tree stump for years to come.

"You call THAT a stump? Friend, you don't know from stumps. I once had to pull up a stump in York like no stump that has gone before. It was the grandaddy of all stumps."

Yeah, so anyway, the stump, it's big. It was bigger but they had to scrape off as much dirt and edge roots as they could, so it's not quite as impressive now. It had an old clay septic pipe running through it too, which is interesting if not impressive.

Rex on Stumpy so you can see just how big it is.

So, if you want a good way to mess with your pets, tear down their only means of entering/exiting the house. The dog has been distraught about losing her "dining room" but, in the end, settled for eating in the kitchen and going out the front door. The cat just paces back and forth on what's left of the deck, trying to calculate the necessary angle and velocity of the wind needed to actually make the jump. We've tried getting her in by other methods but she won't have it. So I guess she gets to literally ride out the storm in the great outdoors. The rain is still in New Hampshire but the thunder is swiftly approaching.

The first day's digging progress.

Expectations for tomorrow: move the propane tank, tear the outer wall off the space below the kitchen, jackhammer the slab out from under the kitchen and hope the kitchen stays where it is for now, watch the not-so-nice-sewer-district-man try to find and then mark the sewer line when there's no grass left to mark it on. But then I have to pay my Sewer District Impact Fee. I can think of a lot of other things I'd like to do with $1250, like a new fridge or stove or bed, but then again, I'd like to be able to flush my new toilet, so I guess I'll pay it.

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