Hard to get motivated in this weather

Thanksgiving storm

The walls are getting gradually higher but will soon be slowed by weather and holiday responsibilities.

Largest Purple Martin house in Seattle

Ready for the first pour. We cut lots of holes around the walls to let the concrete guys put in their hose and fill. You can also see lots of bracing and strapping to keep the walls straight and true. We'll re-use the dimensional lumber for building our internal framing between his and hers, and to frame the bathroom. I told Laura that the pour day should be relatively easy for us. We would be standing around most of the day. She laughed very hard.

The Pour

Pump truck showed up at 6am. Concrete started flowing into the holes at 7am. Cory Myron brought his crew to do the real work. We will follow the crew and patch the holes once the concrete reaches each hole level. Each lap of the building they put in another 2 feet of concrete. It takes two laps between holes, and at 1.5 hours per lap we'll be taking it easy.



Blow-out on the south wall! Everyone, even Bates and John, pitched in to shovel concrete, patch and repair the blowout. Laura later asked "So how did that standing around thing work out for you Ken?"



















We shoveled the wet concrete into wheelbarrows and took it back out to the pump truck, to be put back into the walls again, the mix only slightly altered by a little cat fur and bird droppings.

Finished!! (with this pour at least)

Windows!

The low window buckouts have been stripped off and we have real window openings now. It is very exciting to get the sense of light that will come through the windows! In this photo you can also see Buckout Betty's work on the upper window band. Getting read for the next pour in a couple weeks