The money pit

There are few things more exciting than the first day of excavating for a new home. There's the initial feeling of nervousness anticipating what will become of the landscape that you have fallen in love with so intensely that it made you uproot your whole life as you once knew it. There's the "make sure you never leave the house again without your cheque book" realization. There's the "I need to get a better pair of boots to wade through the mud" realization. There are the many moments of being thankful for the league of extraordinary gentlemen that have jumped on board our crazy train to help bring this passive house to reality. But best of all, there is the all out feeling of wanting to jump for joy because of all of the above. Can't explain it any better than that so I'll get on with showing you this week's activities that have us so giddy.

Although we are not ready to start building just yet, the digging is commencing so we can deal with the rock that inevitably will show up in the wrong places. The following photos show some of the highlights of the last two days at Turtle Falls.

This is the view of the building site from a couple of weeks ago.

The same view after 2 days of digging and rock wrestling.

A co-operative tree-felling effort. Lumberjack Alistair cuts while excavator Richard directs the fall. Contractor Mark looks like he's just warming his hands in his pockets. Can't blame him...it rained most of the day.

Alistair rescues the lumber.

Yep, we knew this would likely happen. The white stripes in the dirt are telling us it's time to call in the hoe ram to carve out some inconveniently placed rock! Note to self - remember the ear plugs for that little exercise.



Ras and Mom supervise from the edge of the money pit. More tell-tale white stripes in the dirt means more work for the hoe ram.



For perspective and a closer view of the rock needing to be hammered out. Almost looks like a little  jump for joy.

This is Jim, the water witch (warlock, whisperer?). He is using his trusted crowbar as a dowsing or divining rod. The good news is he found a spot where 4 streams cross, making for a good well. There is no way to witch how deep we'll need to go to find that water. Word on the street is a well in this area can be as shallow as 80 feet or as deep as 450 feet. Here's hoping for closer to 80. 

More later,
Mimi