Don't blink !

Seems that we work and not much seems to visibly change and suddenly -

A cow of a job !

Finally finish putting up the waterproofing - it's heavy, the weather was hot, it was hard to hang straight and to stick together, and we were teetering on ladders etc etc etc.


Then no sooner was it up than we covered it with filter mesh to protect it from the drain-rock.
A great day

We finally start to backfill over the perimeter drain... This is the very first drain-rock.
Seeing the last of the bottom of the trench we've been mucking out for @#$%^& months
And the cause of ALL the trouble,

old gopher holes - EVERY cave-in started at one of these
Pea gravel in front of the garage for drainage and to support the garage apron.
E's clever idea to hang the drain fabric separating soil from drain rock over a wall of plywood. Dirt one side rock the other, saved on buying more rock.
Voila !!!
Finished product (well for now - we can only backfill this high yet)
Don't blink.

So I go off to work for a few hours and come back to find a 40 meter by 1.2 meter by 1.2 meter (120 x 4 x 4 feet) trench in the front yard. E had a logistic problem with some deliveries and couldn't do what she'd planned. She had the excavator there and decided to get the utility trench dug.


And now for something completely different.

The rush to get the first floor slab poured is partly to get the PEX tubing out of the sun and UV as soon as possible.

And now it's pressure tested.
It never lets up.

We need to get the porch footings formed and poured as part of the logistics of the first floor slab pour.

So far we've had a string of 12 hour plus days of hard, hot, heavy, and dusty labor so digging the footing pads by hand (me) and setting the formwork (E) is pretty taxing. Thankfully we had some well received volunteer help today, as well as a paid crew.
The mad rush during the pour.
Columns for the porch to rest on.
More of our wildflowers

pex, pipes, and plumbing

The last of the underfloor heating tubes into the entryway.
Where the tubes gather...Warming up the waterproofing membrane while I take practical photos so we know where the tubes went if we need to know after slab is poured.Some more flowering plants I found.
May be Fool's onion Triteleia hyacinthina

Random...

Random early summer stuff - more tubing installed for the under-floor heating in the great room.Not the same ones, but a pack of orcas was through a week ago. Lots of sightings - including one of 2 orcas killing a full grown sealion in the surf zone not far north of here. (photo attribution - blog.oregonlive Associated Press/File)
And sights like this in a number of coves, injured sealions that didn't get eaten by the orcas and that hauled up to rest, only to die and become a feast for the carrion birds: crows, seagulls, and of course lots of well-fed...
turkey vultures.Summer: surf - small, but fun on a longboard.
Summer also means surfing schools. Goodness only knows why they try to learn here in the summery 50 deg F [10 deg C] water.
Our place has a new spectrum of flowers this week...
Large Selfheal (Prunella vulgaris)
Including a patch of striking Columbia lilies that I didn't mow so the can set and scatter seed so there's more next year.
Meanwhile back in the bakery, some fun with different bread styles.
Very striking and unusual [for western tastes] barbari bread that is a flat bread that can be successfully made with soft white wheat [SW].
And some product development for the food barley program - marvellous 50% barley pita bread. [HW = hard white wheat]

For James

a link to the jello ultra slow-mo on the other blog...

http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/deliciousnessw09/2009/05/11/the-most-amazing-footage-of-energy-storage-and-elasticity-in-jello/