Down and Dirty

So, just when things looked like they might finally start rolling smoothly, we've run into another time-and-money-consuming snag.

Jason, the very nice guy doing our excavation, was thinking the pad would be all ready for the foundation work to start in the next day or so, but that now has to be delayed. Why? Because in digging down around the pad, he discovered that there is quite a bit of clay on that spot, which is a problem for foundation work.

Jason working on the pad and finding too much clay.

We had our house designer/project manager, Mike Peterson, up on the site today to consult about the issue. He and Michael and Jason put their three capable heads together, and they decided that it would be best to get a soils engineer up there to figure out exactly what needs to be done to ensure that the foundation has no issues.

The Three Wise Men confer.

The "geotech" will be able to tell us how deep we will have to dig, and how much non-clay material we will have to bring in and compact to make it all hunky dory. If we have to go to about two feet, the estimated total cost (above what we have budgeted for this) is somewhere around $4000. If we have to go deeper, god only knows.

We had lined up the foundation guy to come out on Friday and to start working on the foundation on Monday. That ain't gonna happen. Looks like we will be delayed at least a week. Between the extra cost and the delay, that is two more likely nails in the coffin of the barn we both want and need.

Michael is now scrambling to try to get a pump going for the well so that we will have water on site (and not have to bring in a water truck) for the compaction process when the external material gets brought in. The pump will have to run off a generator, so he has to get one of those figured out too. Our landlord has one here in the garage...it might work, we shall see.

As for Lido, his wounds are still raw in places, which according to the vet, is not to be unexpected, given their severity. What is more concerning is the continued swelling around the tendons, and the fact that he is still lame if he tries to do anything more than a normal walk. Dr. Ruby said if that doesn't change in another week or so, she would suggest doing a follow up and some x-rays. One worry is that there could be a broken off piece of bone (called a sequestrum), which would have to be surgically removed -- something we definitely can't afford. Good times all around, eh?

Lido's poofy leg.

One brighter note today was the beautiful visitors I saw on the property as I was heading down the driveway.  Three wild horses, a red and white pinto stallion, a bay mare, and a gorgeous little black colt with very interesting markings on the side of his face were nibbling their way through.

Some mustangs sampling the local cuisine.

I've seen these horses before -- I think the black is the son of the red and white, but the bay mare might be the one I call Maya, whom I have photographed on several different occasions. She was never with this stallion before (I always saw her with a group of other bays I called "The Baydy Bunch"), so if that is her, things have changed.

The black colt, whom I call "Scooter Boy," is adorable and nicely built compared to most in the neighborhood, but like them, he is small and will likely stay that way. Too bad, because if he looked like he would attain any size as an adult, I would seriously think about adopting him. You are allowed to catch and keep any of the wild horses around here, but you have to report it if you do capture one, then the brand inspector comes out and makes it all official, and you are responsible for that horse from then on. If you were to ever turn it loose again and the government found out about it, you would get in trouble.

I have met Scooter a couple of times before and he always sort of scooted away from me -- hence the name. Today, however, he actually came up to me and sniffed my hand while I was taking his picture...

Scooter Boy saying hello!

I don't know why Scooter chose to do that today when he has always been so shy. Maybe he knew he was on  my property and thought it would be rude to just walk away from the hostess. A moment like that -- feeling the warm breath and gentle touch of a stunning wild creature -- kind of makes all the yucky parts of the day just disappear.

Another thing that can make a blue mood disappear: Photos of an insanely cute little donkey surrounded by insanely cute little girls in Fairy Princess regalia!  What on earth am I talking about? Well, the other day, I took Rogie for a walk  for the first time since my surgery. Probably was pushing it a bit, as I am still not supposed to do anything strenuous, and if he pulls on the rope, he's capable of a surprising amount of strenuous, tiny as he is! I decided to risk it, as he was looking sad and bored and lonely, heaping guilt upon me as only Rogie can. We got up the street a ways and I met the father of the family who bought the house the next lot over from where the horses live. He saw Rogie and came over to say hello, then told me that his little daughter was having a birthday party that day. I asked if the children would like to see Rogie, and he thought it would just make their day. His daughter, Skye, has already made pals with Rogie at the McGuffey's. So, I brought Rogie down the driveway, and out piled a gaggle of little girls, all wearing gossamer wings and colorful frilly skirts.

The Fairy Princess Court awaits.

  Let me tell you, it was a nearly deadly dose of cute as those tiny Fairy girls smothered Rogie with attention.

Birthday girl Skye with her wee buddy.

Rogie was very good about it all, I must say -- perhaps a little overwhelmed, but loving it nonetheless.

Rogie was a real trooper and was very gentle with the girls.

My only problem came when the girls were rounded up and herded back into their house, because Rogie did NOT want to leave: he wanted to follow them up the stairs and join the party! That was where the "strenuous" part came in as I did my best to haul him back up the driveway without giving myself a hernia. Totally worth it, for as an extra bonus, I got to talk with Skye's mother, Becky, a lovely lady originally from England who knows horses and used to be a fairly serious rider. She wants her daughter to learn to ride and would like to get back into horses herself, so we have been chatting about that, as well as about wanting to improve our fitness by walking, which we may start doing together (with Skye and Rogie along, of course!). I anticipate many more staggeringly cute encounters between that little sweetpea with the curly red hair and the Roginator!

Such moments of fun and joy really go a long ways towards helping me to balance the stress of this building project.  I guess such snags as we are now experiencing with our building pad are not uncommon, as Mike P. said today, "Until you get to the above ground parts of your build, you never really know what you are going to run into and things like this can happen, but once you are above ground, it should be pretty smooth sailing." Let's hope he is right!