More Can-Do Cottage - We Get Concrete

 The day after we got our trenches dug we poured concrete in them. Not without a little drama.

A big yellow cement truck arrived promptly at 12:30 pm.

And promptly got stuck in the mud.

Really stuck! Of all the routes to the house site he took the one with a soft spot.  We  now had a load of cement, starting to set up - in the truck - not in our trenches. We're responsible to get the cement to the proper place. The truck's delivery chute was at least 20 feet from where it needed to be.  The workers didn't even have a wheelbarrow.  The truck cannot be pulled out of the mud until it's unloaded. Fortunately, The BestLoved Hubby has a bit of experience expediting job sites. We could have called someone but the heavens opened and we were gifted with a cement fairy.

   Our neighbor, an elderly gentleman by the name of Billy Bob (really, his name), has spent a lifetime as a heavy equipment contractor. He built the roads that run by our home. He had just pulled up to his driveway with the lovely tractor/front loader shown above. He and the Best Loved Hubs struck a deal.

Billy Bod drove the loader to the truck, his scoop was loaded up with concrete and he drove it to the trench and neatly dumped it in.

While unloading the first truck, one scoop at a time, the 2nd truck arrived and back up to the trenches, NO PROBLEM! The 3rd truck in the background is a "rescue" truck send by the concrete company. It's loaded with 10 yards of rock to give it some "heft" to pull out the stuck truck.

Truck number two unloads, easy peasy, just as planned.

Once unloaded, truck three hooks a huge fabric covered chain to truck one. And pulls.

Truck one stays stuck. They think they can hook the stuck truck from the back and try pulling it out that direction:

It's a little hard to see the big chain, but they tried. Yellow truck number one still stuck. The contractor had not estimated quite enough concrete, so a FOURTH truck (2nd yellow one) came and delivered it's load. We have our footings. We also have a huge yellow truck stuck in the front yard. Best Loved Hubby starts to talk about decorating it with Christmas lights. The concrete company had a smart foreman that had the last truck bring another big huge chain. Apparently, sticking trucks in the mud is pretty common.

 With a longer chain the truck loaded with rocks can get onto the road which gives it better traction.

The mud was defeated! Success! Trucks gone!

Just us and our footings. The concrete had to cure for at least 14 days before we can move the house on over them. The trucks, with the weight of the house will cross over parts of the footing so it has to be strong. 

How much? Concrete was $1607.98, re-bar $284.57, labor to dig the trenches and pour footings $1600 and last but the best money spent $70 to Billy Bob for his skip loader.  So far all spent, $9974.