The footer is in!

Photo copyright Aji, 2016; all rights reserved.

And that's another three grand out the door today.

It was actually a pretty good deal. It paid for the cement, the truck (i.e., the cement mixer), the pump truck, the Bobcat bucket loader that we've had here since last Wednesday, and labor for four guys. It's just that, for us, three grand is like thirty grand for other people.

Still, given that this whole process started nine days ago — and given that only six of those days have been actual work days for the crew — we've come a long way, baby.

Here's what it looked like early this morning, before the crew showed up. The rebar:

Photo copyright Aji, 2016; all rights reserved.

The ground rod for the breaker box:

Photo copyright Aji, 2016; all rights reserved.

The whole pad, at full height:

Photo copyright Aji, 2016; all rights reserved.

While we were waiting for the trucks to show up, the guys had other work to do. One was creating a berm to prevent water from flowing into the work site during irrigation. They went one better and created a small reservoir to route the water downfield:

Photo copyright Aji, 2016; all rights reserved.

They also set up a frame to build a sidewalk extending out from Wings's studio, but we'll get to that in a moment. 

The pump truck showed up first, then the cement mixer:

Photo copyright Aji, 2016; all rights reserved.

Once hooked up, this is what happened next:

Photo copyright Aji, 2016; all rights reserved.

It took three guys to handle the hose: José manning the live end, Toney in the middle, and Wings on the opposite end, while Buffy did the raking and tamping. [The fourth crew member is Buffy's 16-year-old stepson, who is tasked with other things.] That sucker is heavy (no, I didn't try to lift it; I stayed out of the way). I'll post some more photos over the next few days that will illustrate the process.

Anyway, once the footing was in, there was a little cement left over (as we knew there would be), so . . . the sidewalk:

Photo copyright Aji, 2016; all rights reserved.

The guys leveled it the old-fashioned way, with a two-by-four. Wings is out there right this moment wetting the surface down again.

At any rate, by tonight, here's what it looked like (with credit to Wings for the finishing):

Photo copyright Aji, 2016; all rights reserved.

And here's the footing, as of this evening:

Photo copyright Aji, 2016; all rights reserved.

For this stage of the process, I had budgeted the fundraiser at $15K. [No, that's not nearly enough to pay for everything; it's only supplementing savings, sales, etc. in order to do this.] We now need only another $3,149 to close this stage out — which is good, given that we need to launch the next phase, to cover hugely expensive rough-in phases for plumbing and electrical, as well as the walls themselves starting to go up next week. So we need folks to keep sharing the link to our YouCaring page with everyone. Please go to the page itself and use the widgets there; if you're posting separately, please grab the widget code from the box at the lower right and paste it, so that it will show this:

Many, many, MANY thanks to everyone who has helped us get this far, whether via donations, shares, or moral support. The crew is taking a long weekend, because we're at a bit of a stopping place until Tuesday (materials on order being delivered Tuesday and the ensuing days). I'll have more images for everyone over the next few days.

I never knew concrete and steel could be so beautiful.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2016; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.