Playing with the Mud

We have now moved from demolition to excavation. Much of the dirt behind the now-destroyed retaining wall needs to be removed to make room for new foundations and and the new, improved retaining wall at the back of the new house. As most construction projects in the history of construction, we are now busy removing vast quantities of mud from its original resting place to a new (and we hope a better and more mud-friendly) home.

The work slowed down a bit in the last few days for a very practical reason: it's very hard to squeeze a 8' tall digger into a 7' tall garage. But our builders are nothing if not tenacious and through some machinery origami, they managed to squeeze not just the digger, but also a bucket loader into the tiny space, which now resembles a mine shaft. Unlike most miners who dig for gold, silver or even coal, these guys are actually digging for space because that's what we really need to build the footings, the basement, and maybe, just maybe, my new wine cellar.

If they keep digging in the same general direction, I will end up with a private commuting tunnel to 19th Ave. That should take at least 5 or 10 minutes off my daily commute. We'll see how far we can get.