I think yesterday was the hardest day so far.  We had to do the pour by ourselves since Gerry did not send any crew this time.
Brian has hurt his arm and may be limited in what he can do when it comes to hammering etc.
Brian, John and I were up and down the ladders to the scaffolding.  Using the vibrator and putting in steel.  We also had a blowout in one corner and some of the door frames have been pushed out.
We must be more careful next time.
We were so tired when we were done every muscle hurt.
I don't think either one of us had any idea it would be so hard to build a house of concrete.  All the preparation in the beginning has not made it any easier.  Maybe if we had started in May instead of July we would not be so panicked right now.
There is so much to think of with every level, putting in bucks, bracing every opening, form lock on every second and second last level, horizontal and vertical steel in every level, extra steel in corners, cutting in opening for services, etc.
We had a nice break today with Evan and Nat coming down for the afternoon and dinner.  It gave us a chance to recuperate.
I think for the next step we will hire one more person to help.  This will be the floor joists and three very large beams as well as the wall between the workshop and garage and the front wall of the garage.
It will go faster with four people I think and John is getting really tired so we can't push him to hard we don't want him to have another heart attack.

Brian won the award for getting the dirtiest but we all got covered in concrete.

It is easier now that we are higher to get the hose over the house and around the chimney.

The pump operator and John filling up a wheelbarrow so I could fill the space under windows and doors by shovel full.  Yeah.

It was so very hard to work this stuff.

They take up a lot of room on the street.

Almost done so I could snap some shots before pizza and beer.

E/B

We have had a bit of a break again but are back at it now.

It was nice to have Evan here for a few days to help out.  We always make great progress when the boys come to help.

John is proving a great help but we have found that as with most contractors when you leave them alone they take liberties with time.  We probably won't leave him to do stuff on his own again unless we have some way of checking up on him.  Rick was here to pick up the bin twice today and could not find anyone around to move the car.  It means John was not here at eight this morning.

Today we drove back from eden Mills and Brian has been busy since. Putting the steel into the forms and putting in breaks where the large beams will go.  We are using the larger beams so we don't have to put posts in any rooms for support.  Lucky for us Power Concrete can get us the beams and install them as well.

Checking it twice.

That is a very high scaffold.

The family room and sunroom, already ordered the hot tub.

We are going to love this room.

My plant holder, I dug up a lot of pieces of my favourites to bring here.

There will be a porch here.

Evan enjoying the view.

From what I can find online these are Milkweed beetles.

Suzie being put to work.  You have to earn those Margaritas.

Back to work for now.  It is always a panicky time just before a pour because you are committed once it is done.  

Stopped by rain right now.  It is just pouring down so the ground will be a real mess tomorrow.
Not great but we can dig out the rubber boots I guess.
Made some headway today but had to dismantle a window and re-cut and install a buck that was shorter.  Turns out had Brian not seen that, the window would have been shorter than the counter top.
Not something you want to find out after the concrete is in.

John is working out quite well.  He is strong and only takes short breaks, a half hour for lunch and smokes while he works or is grabbing water.  I think he is beginning to understand why this is taking longer than he first thought.

Once we are out of the family room/kitchen it should move much faster since we won't have all those windows and doors to put in.

Most of these are installed now

Working hard.

Brian found this on the floor of the family room.

Very cool.

This will be the window over the sink.

Garden doors to the backyard.

Jars I am finding in the dirt.

E/B

That was a nice break but now we are back to work.
Brian really enjoyed a day of golf with his old co-workers and get caught up on news.
I did not get a lot of stuff packed as I would have if Brian had gone off to Calgary instead of cancelling so we could get back here and work.
I guess packing will wait until we have sold the place.

We have had a lot of material delivered in the last while so we can now get the main floor done.
The Fastform delivery was at 7am this time so at least we were more energetic than the 11pm delivery.
Brian took them off the truck and the driver and I stacked them in the driveway.  This really young guy was sweating buckets by the time we were done.  He looked done in by the time we finished but maybe if I stopped asking him about his life he would have had more energy for moving material.

When Brian and I moved some of this later we found a praying mantis on a bundle.  We left him alone and continued to move bundles.  After we had moved quite a few I asked Brian which bundle was the Praying Mantis on and he thought we hadn't moved his bundle yet.  Then we turned to walk back and Brian says "Oh wait a sec. he's on your back"  I had thought I felt something back there.  I did not swat at it Brian got a board and took it off and put it in a garden.  We did get great photos though.

We have hired help now.  John is a great worker he has done everything, concrete, drywall, masonry, stairs, fencing plus many more.  Now he is learning how to put up styrofoam walls and is a quick learner.  He and Brian get along which is great since they are working pretty closely.  He is a bit of a drinker even by our standards but never during the day.  After work last night he showed up with some beer and was such a different character.  All happy and everyone is "buddy" and lots of fist bumps.  Very nice to his son who he has had since he was five.  He is now 13 and a nice kid.

Any help is good since the boys have moved on with their lives but we sure appreciated their help this summer.  They are missing the easier part of the build now since squaring the foundation is the most work.

Yesterday was also a day for people just dropping by.  Our neighbour brought us some of her tomatoes and gave us some more history of the County.  As she was leaving I asked her if she would sell me this sign she had in her garden but she insisted we just take it because she had to try and sell it on many occasions but couldn't.  How sweet of her.

Enjoy the photos,

Making bucks for windows and doors.

John is great he has is bigger so that strength is great.

Not as big a load this time.

Someone cancelled and order so we got the joists early.

The sign from our neighbour.

It was swatting at the camera as Brian took photos.

It is pretty big.

I'm not fond of bugs but this one did not bother me at all.

E/B

It has been very quiet the last few days.  We are getting ready for the second level now so there is a lot to finish up first.
We have the sub-floor for the kitchen family room down.
Brian has put some temporary lights in the basement for now but we don't really need to access that much.
Some of the heating supplies will go in once we come back from a mini vacation(sort of)  I am going to our other house to pack boxes so we are ready when an offer comes through.

Again our time estimates are way off.  We thought putting down the sub-floor would only take a day but it was 2 and a half instead. ???????
See you after the 11th

The future family room with doors and windows on both sides.

This will be a project next year, landscaping that is.

A pond at the bottom of the hill?

I get more side yard that we planned on so that is a bonus.

Family room looking towards the kitchen.

E/B