Journal of Progress--July

Saturday, July 1, 2017
Don continued working on his forms for the footing of our missing foundation wall.

Sunday, July 2, 2017
Went to church. Worked on our respective family history projects.  We ate outside.  It is getting way too hot to be in the trailer in the afternoon and evening.  We tried to do some bird identification of birds that came to our feeder.

Monday, July 3, 2017
Don finished the form for the foundation.

Tuesday, July 4, 2017
Don worked on finishing the braces for the footing.  Then we took a drive on the road going west of Mammoth to see where it went.

It was a lot like "The Bear Went Over The Mountain".  All that we could see was the other side of the mountain, one sheep camp but no sheep but we did see a lot of Angus cows.  We saw a reservoir where the pipe that goes through the dam has many big spurting leaks in it.  Don kept saying he was going to turn back at 10 miles, then 20 miles.  I said if we kept going, we would come to a different road which would take us back.  At about 18 miles we came to a road.  Unexpectedly, we had cell phone reception there.  Siri identified it as the Jericho Callao road.  The road to the sand dunes or Little Sahara takes off from it.  Once we were back, we joined with neighbors and friends for a bar-b-que.  Too much good food and good company.

Wednesday, July 5, 2017
Don called the county building inspector to come out and inspect the form.  This is a required inspection.  Don was really nervous about it because the guy could say that it was not adequate, tear it down and start over.  The guy didn't even turn off his truck, the inspection was so quick.  He gave Don the go-ahead.  What a huge relief.

 Don built the landing for the stairs going into the root cellar  The stairwell will turn at this point and there will be more stairs down to ground level.

Thursday, July 6, 2017
Don spent time making phone calls to arrange getting the cement poured.  We took a trip to town for laundry and picking up lumber at Home Depot.

Friday, July 7, 2017

Don worked on putting a hole through the cement for a sewer pipe. The cement was already pretty broken so it didn’t take him too long. Margaret brought out a compresser that Don used to blow out his tie-down holes.  

Two alternate electrical guys came out.  They said they can go off the transformer south of the house.  It will be our job to place a pipe underneath the street.  We would have to work with the county for permission to tear up the road.  Then the electric company would put a meter on the northwest corner of our property.  They need assurance that that corner belongs to us.  Don as pacing it and found this rock he is certain is a survey marker. Don saw a lot of markers such as this when he worked as a surveyor's assistant. It shouldn't be a problem as we bought all of the lots (lots here are only 40 feet wide) up to the street.

 Saturday, July 8, 2017
Don epoxied the tie downs into the cement.

Sunday, July 9, 2017

Church.  A neighbor gave us some freshly caught, freshly filleted catfish.  It was delicious.  We eat most of our midday and evening meals outside.  It is hot inside the trailer.  We watch the birds come to our feeders as we do.  We have a lot of either immature male or female Bullock's orioles.  The male is a much brighter orange than this.  Barbara has seen him but not at the feeder.

Monday, July 10, 2017

We made a trip to Provo.  Barbara grocery shopped with a seven year old granddaughter.  Don took an eleven year old granddaughter with him to DI.  We all had a good enough time to want to do this again.  Because of the weight of the lumber and limited towing capacity of our car, it will take many trips to Home Depot to get all the lumber we need.  Don is showing how strong he has become.  He used to have to move these pieces of plywood on a dolly.

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

The cement guy was supposed to come today but Don forgot to call him until last night and he didn’t get on the calendar. Don oiled the forms for the foundation so that they will come off after the cement is poured. He also repaired cement and worked on the summer kitchen. He called the cement guy in the afternoon and he will come tomorrow.

Wednesday, July 12, 2017
The cement guy came.  This was a huge milestone for us.  We had lots of neighborhood help.
Don is putting in the tie downs for the new foundation.

 The cement truck arrives.

 and the pouring begins.

 Don is tamping down the cement as it goes into the mold so bubbles don't form.  They were also hitting on the forms with hammers.

 Here they are smoothing off the poured cement.

 There will be a cement pad in part of the root cellar.  The rest will be a gravel floor which enables the root cellar to breathe and maintain the moisture content necessary for storing fruits and vegetables long term.

 Rocky is smoothing out the cement as it comes in for an even pour.

 Jayme is carrying some of the cement that spilled as the form was being filled to a wheelbarrow to use elsewhere.

 Now Rocky is smoothing the cement pad.

 Additional cement is poured for other small areas.

 This will form a cement pad to go down the basement stairs.

 Harry is helping Rocky smooth the cement.  Both Rocky and Harry are professionals.  Harry is refurbishing an old house just east of us.

 Ran is filling in a hole when the old foundation is broken.

 In the afternoon Don and Pat went to Stockton for more cheap lumber.  In the evening Pat  invited us over for some refreshing watermelon.  We can't buy watermelon because we would have to to eat it all in one meal and there is no room in the refrigerator.  On our way over to enjoy the watermelon, we saw more of our deer friends.

 While at Pat's, it started to rain and the sun was shining simultaneously.

Thursday, July 13, 2017

Don began adding the wood that surrounds the tie downs. He was having trouble because the tie down holes are too deep and the tie downs are epoxied in so they won’t stick up sufficiently above the wood. He was not a happy camper.

Friday, July 14, 2017

Don started to remove the forms around the new foundation wall.  He didn't have long to work as Barbara had a eye doctor's appointment in Payson.  We went on into Provo to Restore.  There we bought some windows and a sliding glass door.

Saturday, July 15, 2017

Don continued working on removing the supports for the new foundation.  He also repositioned the lumber in the basement to make room for the windows and glass door. 

Sunday, July 16, 2017

We talked in church.  The subject was Strength through Faith.  Barbara was to introduce us and tell how we came to Mammoth.  Don told his airplane story about Fly the Plane, the cave of marvels in the Dominican Republic and how you either have to keep moving or take a step in the dark for the light to come on as a analogy of faith, and his story of blessing his daughter at 15 months when the Doctor's wanted to remove life support because there was nothing more they could do.

Monday, July 17, 2017

We had a brother from church come out and pull nails for us out of the wood used in the forms.  Don built a frame to support the windows and a neighbor came to help off load the heavy glass door.

We then went to Provo where Barbara babysat while our daughter and son-in-law went to close on their house.  Don took the 11 year old granddaughter to home depot with him.  When our daughter and son-in-law came back, Barbara took their van and the seven year old granddaughter grocery shopping.

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Don continued to fight with a form that had been resisting coming off and he won.  He put the wood on the tie-downs for the inside basement wall.  We went to Provo to help our daughter move.

 Wednesday, July 19, 2017
Don filled in around the base of the new foundation.

He and Pat worked to get the bolts off the old nuts on the door to the basement.

 Thursday, July 20, 2017
Don continued filling in the new foundation wall.

 He worked some on the outside kitchen.

 Friday, July 21, 2017
Don started building the walls for the root cellar.

 He thought he had been bit by a tick in bed so we did our laundry in Santaquin including all of the bedding.

Saturday, July 22, 2017
We made quick trip to South Jordan to get some gravel for the root cellar.  To preserve fresh fruits and root vegetables and keep the moisture at a desirable temperature, the cellar has to breath.  We could only take 1/2 ton or 1000 pounds because the car is not strong enough to pull a heavier load up the steep grade before arriving at Eureka.  1/2 ton does not appear to be very much gravel.  It was less than one shovel full.

 Don prepared the root cellar to receive the gravel.

 Don made bull's eye in each toss of the gravel.

 He is evening the gravel out in the root cellar.

 Sunday, July 23, 2017
Other than the surprise, quick visit of a son-in-law and granddaughter, of this same family, we had our first family visitors today.

Monday, July 24, 2017

I woke up to hear Don getting dressed. He said he was going in to get gravel. It took him a while to get everything ready but he was off by 7:30 and he returned by 11. He off loaded the gravel and then began moving wood to free up his stair support.

 He kept working on the root cellar walls.

 Tuesday, July 25, 2017
It rained all night and into the morning.  It was afternoon before it was dry enough for Don to work.  Don kept working on the walls for the root cellar. In ways, he had a bad day. The work went well but he kept hurting himself. He hit himself in the forehead with a nail. He was carrying the nails in his hand and tripped. Then he was cleaning out his tool box (actually Margaret’s big black one) because of the rain and the lid came down and hit him on his head. Then one wall of the root cellar was a bit high and he was knocking it down with this heavy beam an hit himself over the head with that.

 This is a reenactment of the hitting himself on the head with the heavy beam.

 Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Don spent much of the morning struggling over how to do the stairs into the basement. He decided what he had planned took too much space. He moved lumber to where he needed it. A fellow came by who does work with a bobcat and Don hired him to smooth the surplus dirt from digging the trench for the new foundation wall. and Don explained what he wanted. Don moved the trash trailer to below and brought up the tent trailer.   

  July 27-29, 2017

We were at a family reunion in Bryce Canyon.

Sunday, July 30, 2017

Church.