We're finally adding, not subtracting...and a small visitor

Finally, we have reached the stage where taking stuff (trees, excavated soil) off the land has ceased and adding stuff (gravel fill) has begun. This is a welcome stage and the anticipation to see the beginnings of a house is as big for us as Christmas morning is for a 6 year old. But until then, here are a few photos of preparing the pit for the foundation.

Geotechnical engineer (in orange) checking to see if we are down
 to the bedrock.

Scraping down to the bedrock. You can see the area the geotech engineer
was in, to the right.

The first load of the "adding" phase.

Each load of gravel gets compacted before another is added.

Lots of packing. Adam's arms were probably vibrating in his sleep
for the 3 days he worked on this project.

Geotechnical engineer testing for proper compaction.

A nuclear surface gauge measures the density of the packed gravel.

Perfectly packed, level, and ready for the foundation.

With the many loads of gravel that were trucked in, the driveway took a brutal beating leaving ruts a foot (30cm) deep in the rain-soaked ground. Several loads of gravel needed to be spread along the winding drive into Turtle Falls to rectify this. Ras went right to work smoothing out her "reading room" section in front of Priscilla. Who needs a bobcat when you have Ras? Check out her cool technique in this short video.

Last but not least, after the noise of the machines (and Ras) had subsided for a few days, we had a little visitor. Right near the area where the entrance to the house will be, we spotted a turtle. Most likely, it was looking for a good spot in the dirt to lay her eggs but we take it as a good sign that the turtle approves of the soon-to-be Casa Tortuga. Not long after I took this photo, the turtle headed off...and promptly fell into the foundation hole! What's with the turtles around here? They fall down the rocks, they fall into holes...I guess we got it right with the name Turtle Falls.
 

The stake with the orange tape is where the entrance to the house will be.

Oh, and just so you know...turtle was unharmed by the fall into the foundation hole. Good thing...a hurtin' turtle would not have been such a good sign!

More later,
Mimi