Excavation Party

10/8/10 is a big day, we've started excavation. We didn't know if pictures would do it justice so I agreed to pose in order to provide some perspective.

Here's is the equipment brought in for the actual digging. 953 CAT trackloader, the front bucket is about as big as a double bed.

Here I am standing in the basement - the back-right corner, the hole is about 5 ft deep.

The closest corner is where I was standing in the picture above. On the far end of the hole is the side where the garage will be. Front of the house is to the left.

Here is the dirt pile. I am standing sort of behind the pile, so it may look a bit larger than it really is. But then again, maybe not. I tried to climb up it but it is packed too loosely.

Let there be Water

In September our well was drilled. Rose and Bob were spectators/participants in the day's activities. Bob helped dig a ditch for some of the overflow, while Rose was the photographer.

Some impressive equipment is necessary.

Somewhere they hit black shale, which mixes with water to form this lovely sludge. Thankfully there was a lovely trench dug....

All in all: the well is just shy of 300ft deep, with somewhere between 7-10 gallons per minute. A few things should work to our advantage, including that the well was dug during a very dry spell. So we hope that this well will be more than we need as long as we use it!

Happy Birthday

Nothing like a birthday weekend to do some cleaning....

Here is a picture of the rye planted on the septic field. The field is about 1/4 acre, which oddly enough is roughly the size of our land we owned in Manassas.

This is of some of the area that the Goodwins raked and cleaned up, the area was covered with sticks and branches. My dad loves these stumps, as his "Catawba" day job seems to be knocking the dirt out of them. He is probably the most enthusiastic stump cleaner, and the most thorough.

The foreground is around the burn site, then our nice gravel pile, and the background is of the new septic field with some lovely rye growing.

Here is one of the ugliest trees we dealt with on Sunday. Cumbersome branches made this one fun.

The 3 core Bennetts all taking a break, nice day out on Sunday. 70's and overcast meant it was perfect to be outside all day.

Clearing the Septic Field

Well after almost 3 years our septic system was finally approved by the state. Perhaps that should have quote around "approved" given all of the adventures. But ultimately, we were able to get our fully traditional septic system.

This is most of the area cleared for our septic drain field. Some of us think that this planned septic system could support a small apartment complex, but at least I can relax knowing that it will last well beyond our use.

June's French Drain

We put in a French drain to make sure that any rain water would not reach either our house or our septic field. Obviously I am the hardest working Bennett and dug the whole thing by hand....

Here is a partial view of the whole thing, or at least before we put the gravel, slotted pipe and covered it back up.

Oh, wait - I guess this was actually the primary digging implement. But all-in-all, the French drain was finished in under a week. Goodwins and Bennetts helped out with this wonder!