Today was concrete pouring day. I decided to use a pump truck, as the cement truck's ramp would not reach some of the tubes. It was a cool thing to watch. The pump truck driver had a wireless remote to control the pump. He walked along with my friend Zach, who carried the (quite heavy) hose and filled all the tubes. The driver could turn the flow of cement on and off, increase and decrease the volume and pressure and even the consistency of the cement. Once everything was all set, it only took about an hour to fill all the tubes and the form, and screed (scrape) them and finish the job. Here are some pictures of the process and the finished product. Now the concrete is curing and will be ready to set the cabin on top when the kit arrives April 21st!

No April Fool's joke--the day dawned sunny and windy! The main task for today was to cut the tubes so they were all level with each other. While not nearly as physically demanding as yesterday, the work was very exacting because we wanted the leveling to be as precise as yesterday's straight, square and plumb measurements. The laser level came in quite handy for the purpose. We (mostly my brother Paul and his son Evan, aided by their foster children Munif and Mohammed) also laid out and built a form for the landing for one set of steps, to be used if there was surplus concrete tomorrow. Here are pictures of Sunday's efforts. You can see a) it was a MUCH nicer day and b) the process took much consultation and head scratching. But, we got everything done that needed to be done for the next day, when the concrete was scheduled to arrive.

After 10 hours of pretty much non-stop work, we got all 18 holes dug and tubes in square, lined up and plumb. Because the forecast called for rain (it is springtime in Nebraska), we covered the tubes with garbage bags and secured them for the night. This is a picture of the result of a long day of labor Saturday March 31 2007. May not look like much, but we were all quite proud of the days' accomplishment!

The day we dug the holes was cold, wet and windy. My brother Paul and brothers in law Bruce, Loren, Alan and Tom helped immensely. My friend Craig was essentially the ramrod (meaning--he knew what he was doing) and helped us all do things correctly. These are pictures of the hole digging day--by far the most physically difficult day of the three day project!

Digging the holes for 18 posts that have to be at least 36 inches deep was a job for a machine. We used a Toro Dingo. This is me using the Dingo to dig the holes.

Here's what the cages look like in the cardboard tubes that are the forms for the concrete.

After much preparation, we got the foundation for our cabin laid this weekend. Because of our site--close to a lake, on mostly sand--we decided to use concrete posts for our foundation. The posts are 12 inches in diameter, with a rebar cage in the middle. Here's a picture of the cages.