We've Been De-Moated

 All we need now is a good rain to settle everything so we can see where we need to put more soil and gravel. We can probably expect a hot dry summer from this point in. The good people of Winnipeg can show their appreciation for the reduction of mosquitos by placing their brown envelopes  in our mailbox.

 We gleaned the limestone slabs a couple of years ago from a house across the backlane from my office. The owner had removed it from a patio and was happy to see us haul it away.

The two granite slabs in front of the door are from the farm.

This turned out much better than we expected. Hooray!

Filling the Moat

 Yesterday, we rented a two-man post hole auger and started drilling the holes along side of the house. After one hole, I realized my back was not up to the task, so we conned asked Mr K., our next door neighbour, if he would help. The Geek and Mr K were drilling the sixth hole, when the auger bit got stuck and kept pulling itself deeper.

After trying to help loosen it, Mr K. was rememind had an engagement yesterday afternoon so he wisely made his escape left.
The Geek used a pipe wrench to turn the shaft of the bit and managed to move it out of the ground a couple of inches.

I ran back to Home Depot to get another extension to give us a bit more leverage. The young lad I spoke to had never heard of anyone getting the bit stuck-he must be new.
When I got back, The Geek had drilled a hole into a piece of telepost she had found in the basement and was using the pipewrench and an extender on that.
She then drilled a second hole through which we put one of her long clamps.
(I apologize for the sideways pictures. My computer's picture viewer refused to turn them. An 'unknown error' occurred. Eesh!)

 After pushing and shoving we managed to turn the bit high enough out of the ground to lift it clear. It was clogged with clay, which may explain why it kept pulling itself deeper.

 We managed to bend her clamp in the process.

 The earth on the side of the house, despite all the rain we've had, was very dry and kept falling into the holes. Because we couldnt' think of another way to remove the dirt, The Geek vacuumed it out. (I suspect we provide endless entertainment to the neighbours.)

 By pulling out all the loose dirt, she managed to drop the pipes another foot into the holes.

 At the end of the day we had managed to move the large gravel to the back of the house so we don't have that huge step down anymore.

 I suspect we would have accomplished more yesterday but that stuck bit took a lot of time and energy, even tho' we managed to get the auger back to Home Depot with a minute to spare of our four hour rental.

Let's hope we finish today. The shingles come tomorrow and the roofers on Tuesday. We don't need any holes into which they might fall.

The Moat

 Sunday evening we left a message at Bin There Dump That and on Monday Ginette, one of the owners, picked up the full bin and then brought it back empty. Because it was pure concrete (ie no garbage), and therefore considered 'clean fill' we did not have to pay the considerable tipping fee at the dump. (BTW we cannot say enough good things about Pam and Ginette at Bin There Done That. If you need a bin, rent from them.)

 We had it set down next to the back gate this time. We weren't getting any extra points for distance walked.

 It was a shame to break up this part of the sidewalk. It was very good concrete with lots of aggegate (is that red rock ochre? Neither the Geek nor I have ever seen ochre.)

As in, break jackhammer bits kind of good concrete.

And tons of 're-bar' re-enforcement.

As in, concrete spaghetti monster type of re-enforcement!

 Thankfully, the sidewalk did not have as many layers at this point.

We ran out of room in the bin at the same time the Geek ran out of patience with hammering* so there is one piece of the old sidewalk remaining, but it isn't in the way of future projects.

 The full bin was removed this evening and

all that is left is the re-bar,

and for the Geek to clean up her black boots (and we need to vacuum the house from all the tracked in mud). Yesterday, she asked me where I had put them because even she did not recognize them in their current state.

She even put up some caution tape at the back door. We have both 'forgotten' there  is a big step down right now. It was probably quite comical to see, but hopefully this will serve as a reminder before we do ourselves an injury.

* I am an inch too short to use the jackhammer for any length of time. Even the Geek says she would shorten the punch if she were to use it on a regular basis. I guess the people who build these things thinks every one who uses them should be over 5'8".

We'll Need Stairs!

 The west side of the house is finished save for sifting out the large stuff that might choke the auger.

Sieving out the 'large' stuff.

 We have a rather deep trench at the moment. This doesn't bode well for moving around the back to the door. We'll need to build stairs!

A big step up.

 Four yards of concrete ready to be picked up and hauled away. That is going to be one heavy load.

One bin full.

Digging for 1929*

We're trying to dig out the concrete from beside the house so rain and melt-water can get down to the base of the foundation.
In 2006 we removed the first layer of sidewalk. Today, the next four+ layers will come out.

We dug out some sidewalk from behind the house in 2008 (I can't believe I didn't take pictures of all the layers. There were at least four) and found the brick-layer to be the very bottom. We have hit brick in this trench, so hopefully that is the last layer.

We've hit brick!

 We started digging at the fence and are working toward the back yard. The jackhammer is standing where the brick was found.

The jackhammer is standing in the brick-layer

 This is what the it would look like if you were the brick looking up.

View from the bottom of the hole.

*1929 is when the house was built.

Archeology 101

The concept was simple. Enlarge the flower bed behind the house by digging a longer and wider hole. How hard could it be?

Uh oh!! What is this?!?!? (the ropey thing is my camera strap)

'This' turned into....this

Under which, was another 'this'...

that ended up being 'THIS'! and there is still one big piece to come out.

(previous owners have had a thing for concrete. When we jack-hammered the sidewalk beside the house there were at least three sidewalks underneath.)

Thankfully, the original brick walkway 'bonded' to the lst layer of concrete poured on top and came out as one unit...


and the long piece is being used now as a retaining wall.