Foundation repair, house moving

More blocks and more blocks and more blocks, that is the story here. The corner is finally blocked in. That was quite the challenge in time, patience and technique. The structure to lift the weight of the house off of the pilings, made maneuvering very awkward so it had to be gingerly navigated. That done, the block placing could and did continue to complete the corner of the new foundations. Some of the work is shown below.

As can be seen in the photo, the corner is now in place and completed. The remaining work lies in building the new wall of the foundation.  The sheet of metal is a door to access the crawlspace under the house.

This pile of wood and metal that is obstructing the view, also impedes the ability to maneuver when placing the  concrete blocks. The concrete blocks are quite heavy so it is an art to place them correctly, or within a fixable parameter of error. Basically this whole process is surgery on a house, you can't get everything out of your way, but you do have a job to do to get the whole system working properly. You find a solution to get around problems to get things done. Mr says he's getting pretty good at the block placing. New challenges bring new skills.

I think this is one project everyone will be glad to see finished, though it is not going to happen anytime soon. Only about 15% of the foundation is rebuilt at this time. Yeah, I know slow. Imagine what it feels like when you are butt deep in dirt all the time and see this as your destiny for the immediate future? Daughting, huh?
Perseverence is a virtue in this operation.

There have been some real blessings over the last week. The huge miserable weather pattern whch lasted a week, the unending tropical storm pattern that dumped 22 inches of rain on Wilmington NC area and many inches in ours, seems to have sucked out the miserable weather for quite some time. We have had a blessed summer week which has helped construction and the demeanor of the work crew and all concerned. Work has been followed or interspersed with magnificent sunsets and boat cruises. Last night brought mirror flat water which made for a super ride north upriver into the great pristine undeveloped watershed above us. Two spectacular mature eagles lifted as we approached on the undisturbed water. It was magnificent. Quite a treat after so much work. Who could do all that work without such a awesome payoff?

The garden has brought some treats too. Earlier in the summer I cut back some mums in the garden to keep them short for their fall bloom. The technique didn't do much for the old plants, but look what the cut offs did when I stuck them in a concrete planter that was filled with sandy soil but vacant of plants. Pretty amazing if you ask me...but who asked? That was a great lesson. I've had a lot of success here with sticking cuttings into the ground and hoping for the best. Russian sage, butterfly bush and these mums are some of the real success

stories. Some of it does seem to be timing. I put the same type of cuttings in again and they did not grow to plants, they just died. Who knows? It is worth a try, if it works good, if not no investment lost.

We are still hauling tomatoes out of the garden and we found some green beans on the vines that have not born fruit all summer. Some of our garden residents are changing as can be expected in the fall. We have lost some birds and gained others. No more Red Wing Black Birds or Grackles, Nuthatches and wrens have arrived and I saw my first Oriole the other day. I think it was a female Baltimore. This morning my favorite little House Wren got himself stuck in our screen porch. I saw him in the garden cleaning up some bugs this morning. I haven't seen him for two or three months. He took off with a honey earlier in the summer...poor guy he rebuilt his nest and searched for a mate for a long time before hitting pay dirt. Once he found her, they left for parts unknown and there he was, back again, outside today; the star of the show. Yes, this place is a handful, but there are many blessings too.