Slow but (nearly) steady

Well the promise that "the blocklayers will be right behind the footings" turned out to be a little more optimistic than I would have liked. In fact, for nearly a week if you'd asked me who was laying our foundation, I would have said "nobody." Bad weather, bad planning, or just plain malfeasance... whatever it was, the block layers didn't get started until nearly a week after they were supposed to, all the while the temperature was giving me concern. But that's all behind us now, I hope, and we're nearly done the frost walls.

There's a freakish amount of fill to be added now -- because of the way the grade worked out, we either had to bring the basement slab up nearly three feet above grade level, or we had to face having a really steep driveway. We decided that we would regret a bad driveway more than we would regret a big bill for fill -- the pain of the latter is only felt a few times, but the pain of the former is felt every time it snows or freezes. 

So on Monday, weather permitting, the dump trucks arrive and start pouring sand into this lovely big hole. Once that's done, the blocklayers can finish their work and the framers can start.

If we're really, really lucky we may just have a main floor in place by Christmas. But I'm not counting on it. 

The weather has been kind to us so far, but we're pushing our luck for sure. It's starting to look like a real house, though, and that's kinda exciting.