Matt, Dad, Phil and his friend Jeff went up to make it all work, but the steel man and the crane operator were the big heroes of today... They lifted the beams into place, and made 'em work. That's someone who knows what he's doing on the top of a steel column on top of this steel column:
Don't they look marvelous in place?
Thanks for making it happen, guys!
Matt had fun removing the custom-made bolt-holding cavity protectors. I think they give the back wall the nice effect of a crenolated tower--our own little castle. Dad thinks they'd make a nice turkey blind, now that it's hunting season.
Here's Matt in triumph after removing the most stubborn wood.
Just look at how well the concrete filled in--even under these forms!
Now: who's up for some wood-working?!?
This may not look so special to you, but we're pretty awfully darn happy about these strange fixtures in our house pad: they are the *last* big concrete forms of the project. (Technically, there will be some small bits of concrete to add later, but nothing requiring big trucks to arrive...)
Over the weekend, with some quality family time working, we finished installing the forms for the inside-the-house pillars, the massive back wall, the little piece of the wall that holds lots of conduits and pipes, and the big, tall deck pillars. Today, Mom met the new inspector who signed off on our work, and the concrete and pumper are scheduled for Thursday. 
Josh also worked hard (with some help from other good folks) at building the frame for what will be an awning over the garage doors.
Thanks to Dave, Regan, Christian, Andrew, Josh, Don, Jay, Maureen, Karen and Ryan for all your help!! It was good to build with you.
The next fun will be this coming weekend. Anyone game?!?
We accepted a fabulous load of materials--lumber for the house floor, plywood for the rest of the foundation forms, and more.
But, our biggest excitement was when Matt shot this nail into his hand. The clinic gave him an impressive-looking bandage. Happily, the damage was very minor. You can see the relief on his face... (My disappointment, of course, was that he pulled the nail out long before his x-rays, so we have no cool pics of the nail-in-hand to upload.) Nail guns are serious business.
We worked at preparing everything for the final big concrete pour, including another clean-out of the *evil* deck support post holes. I hope to never climb into them again, and like to believe that's not an unrealistic hope. :)
And, Dad, Phil and Jay put the big pieces of the big concrete form in place. Now, it won't be long 'til we're ready to pour concrete and fill up these holes!
Under coercion, Nona played along with everyone else in leaving handprints in the extra grout.
Doesn't everyone look happy to be one step closer to being done with the foundation?!?
Matt and Andrew worked all day, laying the first, critical pieces of the forms for the concrete in our back wall.
Sunday, the concrete forms began to look impressive. After worship (which, conveniently for Matt, was at our church retreat in Julian this weekend), we kept working, and, with Jay's help, built all of the inside wall and part of the outside!
I got to try my hand at construction, too, making these little boxes (er, precision construction jigs) to keep the concrete out of the place where we need the steel columns to tie into the big bolts.
Mostly, we're relieved that a task that had seemed really daunting looks like it's going to be doable (and, even, with minimal pain!)
Here's Matt with wheelbarrow, as we got ready to lay the last course of blocks. (The finished deal is above.) The anchor bolts are all dangling in place, and, if the inspector agrees with us, it'll be ready for grout to be poured into the blocks this coming weekend!
