JeffieBoy

The good news is that your “Girlfriend” is here for you!

April 2. Busy day today. On Tuesday night was suddenly thinking that we have no real wifi signal in the yard. Wonder if we can add it? Found a 120’ Cat7 cable suitable for direct burial on Amazon yesterday and ordered it. Package arrived this morning. It's in the trough with the Teck Cable already! Should leave me about 20’ in the garage and plenty in the house to get to my modem. The trough should be inspected and back filled within an hour or so. A crew has now lifted and brushed off all the old pavers from the driveway. Theynow fill my front lawn and will be recycled to create a nice patio area in the back later on. So much for my front lawn for this year! The same crew is now digging and installing 6x6 fence posts along the property line. We will be meeting with our neighbours tomorrow night to come to an understanding about fence heights and patterns. They have to live with this also. Might as well try to keep them happy. I figure if I also throw them a “Socially Distanced” beer it won’t hurt either. The roof trusses mfr advised that the driver was underway and would be here by 2pm. Sure enough, he arrived at 1:15 (2 mins later)and it was all hands on deck to help unload the flatbed whilst It blocked the street. Those are now stacked up against the back wall of the new foundation. The construction lumber should be arriving on Monday morning. My wife is baking the young men some chocolate chip cookies (they must be famished!) while we try to figure out a final pattern for the fence. We are not fence lovers and have had a 3 foot high, rotten old two board fence for almost 40 years. It was just enough to keep little kids and dogs in the yard. Now with the garage gone, we suddenly have to face our neighbours ratty tin shed, garbage cans and 20 foot travel trailer as we walk out the side door. I think we will be going with something a bit higher at the front, then dropping down as we move up into the trees. For those asking, my boat is an Alumacraft Competitor Series 165 Tiller. Nothing too extravagant, strictly a fishing platform with an e-Tec 60 Tiller. I do love it but unfortunately was not able to properly store it during the first 5 years I owned it. Making up for that big time. Setting posts Hmm, a thinner black wire entering the garage? Someone else mixing concrete for the posts View from the front window. Skids of old pavers. Protective tape in the wiring trench about a foot above the actual cable. The beneficiary of the new garage!

No cars in this garage! It's for my boat. I am not totally crazy... LOL There will be an outlet just inside the door, so I can plug the car block heater in though!

April 1. Todays progress photo. About two truckloads of crushed, recycled stone around the foundation over top of the drainage skirt and tubing. About 90 percent of the topsoil backfill is in place along the property line. As you can see, the front entrance lip is basically gone underground so the loader, tamper, etc can enter the foundation. Eventually it will be exposed again. We have heard that the roof trusses are going to come tomorrow, almost three weeks early. They either go on the front lawn or onto the flower garden against the back fence. Any guesses what my wife decides?

ahhh, Austin TX. LOL. Up here in Canada we have an issue called frost heave. Building Code indicates that the foundation must go down 4 feet into the ground so that it sits below the frost line. The number varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Because your footing ring is poured on a flat level surface and because we are on a fairly steep hill (almost 6 feet front to back), this means the rear wall foundation must go down almost 10 feet. This then compounds to meaning greater wall thickness, more rebar for reinforcing, etc, etc, etc ( read more money, more money, more money). The top of the brown waterproofing membrane is approx. 8 inches below the top of the concrete and will pretty much be where the topsoil will finish. So the end result will only show about 8-12 inches of concrete. Keep watching for more progress photos!

My guy has had this vision of the project since day one. I have been very reluctant to go ahead with it as I really couldn't visualize it. The garage fell and we said “Wow, that really opened up the lot, did it not?” Then he started to dig and all we could think was A) swimming pool and where did the rest of our yard go? It felt huge before but now there is nothing but two mountains of dirt. We have a skid of pavers on the front lawn and are going to have to figure out where to put the trusses when they arrive. We just need to trust his leadership and keep looking at the drawings instead of the mess. Waterproofing and backfill is about 80% complete.

I typically grill my wings over direct heat, turning them every couple of minutes. This prevents them from drying out and allows plating at the prime moment. They get enough smokiness doing this.

I agree with the drip pan. Typically around 400+ degrees works fine.

March 27th. Houston, we have a foundation! Now a week or so to cure before construction starts.

i think the best thing is that my contractor got me his first time slot of the season so that we should be done early enough to be able to enjoy the space and the newly landscaped yard for most of the summer. The gardens may take until next year, but hey - thats her problem.

Welcome aboard from another Akorn nut from North of the Border. Look out - you might get reassigned to help keep your fellow Americans from escaping North away from Covid! LOL Remember also that the more you use the Akorn thin layers of fat and soot will build up around gaskets, cracks, vents, etc and help you get some tighter control of temps. I work hard to start with the smallest possible fire, and struggle to keep from wanting to peek part way through the cook which is a huge no-no as well. Keep going, you've got this!

March 26. Foundation has been poured! Two truckloads of the wet stuff delivered. Almost 15 cu metres of concrete. We even got our lucky loonie set underneath where the sill plate will go. This should help my fishing every time the boat leaves the garage! And BTW, there is a 40” LED Smart screen in my basement awaiting it's mounting place on the wall over the boat along with an Apple TV. Maybe with luck she won't know where I have disappeared to! The wine rack will stay in the cellar, but I did notice my daughter's bar fridge from university. It may hold some cans for me.

March 25. Footing poured and set. Today the foundation wall forms are going up! Covid-19 be damned! LOL. Man added for scale. I was surprised at the size of this hole. Could probably add a basement and not tell my wife. Give me somewhere to hide out from her!

I know, I know. . . As my sister (who made pasta at cooking school in Italy) tells me, “the old ladies in Italy have been plugging in their pasta machines for generations. Stop being so lazy and just do it.” Since we live three blocks apart and are both housebound, perhaps I can get her to give me a lesson.