Wow, what a day. This morning I spread the last of the gravel over the driveways. I was a bundle of nerves thinking about concrete trucks getting stuck and other things going wrong. It was early afternoon when the concrete guy arrived with his helper, and they started to do the final preparations for pouring. The concrete trucks arrived not long after, and the first nearly got stuck. I ran some errands while they started pouring and returned about halfway through. It was nice to talk with the truck drivers and I was able to relax a bit. Unfortunately I bought about eight yards more concrete than I needed. Everything got finished and looked good, I paid everybody, and then I left. I drove to the cottage, hooked up the trailer, and headed home. I arrived about a quarter before eight, and Luke was still up. It was nice to see him before he went to bed.

I got to the job site about seven this morning in anticipation of the inspector. I finished up the rebar and moved some dirt with the tractor. My big accomplishment was getting a massive stump loaded onto the trailer and hauled to the burn pile. The inspector came and was okay with everything except for the fact that there was rock in a corner of the footings on one house. He told me to hammer it out and to send him a picture. So after Dillon came with a load of gravel I borrowed my dad’s truck and drove down to Manchester to rent a jackhammer and returned to the job site. There I started hammering and it was a lot like work. Dillon returned with another load and his truck got stuck, but we were able to free it, with a lot of help from the tractor. After he left I did more hammering and got the footings all cleared out. I took the hammer and generator back to the cottage and drove home. Liz and Luke were having dinner on the back deck, and I joined them. It was a beautiful evening. After dinner I mowed the grass and watered the sweet potatoes and straw bales. It was after dark by the time I finally came back inside.

I went to Kroger early this morning and returned home to load a few things in my car. After reading a book to Luke and eating breakfast I headed towards the Mountain. I first stopped at Lowe’s in Tullahoma and bought some materials, then went to the lumber yard in Winchester to drop off my materials list for a quote. From there I drove to the cottage and had lunch. I also unloaded and started my generator, and let it run through the afternoon. I went to the job site and prepared the footings for rebar and moved some dirt with the tractor. Early afternoon the termite guy came by and pre-treated the footings. After he left I moved some more dirt, and then Dillon came by in his big dump truck. He had been delivering gravel up on the Mountain, and I loaded up a few logs for him. Tomorrow he will bring me a couple of loads of gravel. I left when he did and went back to the cottage to pick up batteries for the cordless tools. Upon returning to the lots I attached my counterweight log to the three point hitch. It should make a nice ballast for lifting heavy things. That took a while but I had wanted to get it done for weeks. After finishing and moving the tractor out of the way I went to Piggly Wiggly for some food. I showered and then spoke with Liz on the phone, and my dad a little later. My parents are watching Luke this evening while Liz is out on the town. I am pretty tired and will hopefully go to sleep shortly.