Two days?

Yup, only two days have passed and alot has happened!

Monday saw the excavator come out and backfill around the foundation walls. Alot of the massive piles of dirt are now gone...

Once the dirt piles in front of the house were mostly gone they were able to extend the gravel driveway up to the front of what will eventually be the garage.

You're now able to walk around the entire perimeter of the concrete foundation without the 10 foot deep trenches everywhere. In this photo you can see how the inside of the garage walls have also been filled with dirt. Eventually the garage slab will be poured over it after they add a layer of gravel first.

Once Monday was over, Tuesday brought on the beginnings of some new developments;  the framing.

The first thing they need to do is fasten a toe board to the top of the foundation walls. They'll fasten the subfloor structure (floor joints, plywood subfloor, prelaminated beams, etc) to these toe boards.

As the materials for the framing begin to appear on-site, our house will eventually begin to take on a more recognizable shape.

The framers have set up shop in the garage area... here they'll cut any pieces they need to do the actual framing and any other work that can be done above grade.

The first appearance by a subcontractor who does something other than moving dirt or building walls is the electrical sub. He's installed the beginnings of what will be the electrical service meter on the outside wall and the breaker panel down in the basement.

I believe the long yellow piece of wood in the next photo is one of the prelam beams that'll hold up the first floor of our house. The few darker long pieces of wood I'm not as sure about. I think they must be beams of some sort as well, but I'm not exactly certain where they go. It'll be interesting to watch it all come together.

Meanwhile... in the "back 40"....  ;)

The above is the fire circle of what we've come to call the "girls' play area". It's a clearing in the woods that they've adopted as their own area.

Well, today while rummaging around in the tall grassy area behind their play area the girls scared up some of these:

We think they're cranes, but we're not exactly sure. One thing IS for certain tho;  they get really ticked when you stumble upon their nest with babies in it! (and very loud too, as the girls quickly found out!)

Weather permitting things will begin changing appearance very quickly as the floor framing goes on and the walls begin to be framed up. I figure I'll be able to post updates here every other day typically, unless something happens on-site that I want to post the day-of, so keep on tuning into this same bat-channel at this same bat-time! :)

Paul