Vampire Weekend

No, I did not get bitten by a vampire, nor am I going to a costume party this weekend. Instead, this is plug for a band that I have been listening to. I think I've mentioned these guys before, but I wanted to mention them again as their first full length album will be coming out a week from Tuesday.

Vampire Weekend is four guys from Brooklyn who play a beautiful mix of indie rock and African rhythms. For a taste of their style, check out this video to the song that I have been whistling for the past couple months. Enjoy.




How's the house coming? The concrete seems to be setting up well. It is in the teens here, so I don't plan on doing a whole lot with the house today. If things go well, the house could be moved in two weeks, though. I'll update you again soon.

I'm also hoping to get some more of Samuel's work posted here soon, too.

Still, BBK

The BIG pour

After weeks of work and a couple of setbacks, the footers and the slab have been poured. The finished product is amazing, and I have no doubt that it will hold up when the house eventually comes rolling across it and is jacked up in the air.



As I've mentioned before, I had to pour my footers above ground due to the amount of rock that would have had to be dug out otherwise. I opted to pour the slab at the same time to strengthen the pour since my house will be jacked up on the site once it is moved.

The pictures tell most of the story.

Big thanks to my dad for all his help, Uncle Tom for taking so much time to help, John Abbott for mucking so much mud and shoveling so much gravel and Ed Murphy for tying steel and forming up.

Jinks' Concrete finished the pour with Lambcon supplying the concrete.

Hopefully we will get a hard freeze in a few weeks and can move the house. Right now I am looking forward to taking a break for a couple days and regrouping.

The semester has started well, and I have 5 great classes. I am looking forward to trying out a few new ideas and learning more about being an effective teacher.

Listening to: The Streets - A Grand Don't Come for Free

Good Aches

Quick post here. I worked almost nonstop today from 7 am until 12 am (midnight, that is) getting ready for the pour. Shoveled a lot of gravel, had great help from Dad, Uncle Tom and Samuel (who braved the temperatures on this 70 degree January day even though he is horribly sick). The inspector is coming out tomorrow, hopefully in the afternoon, and as long as everything is kosher we'll pour Friday morning.

Tommy and Mike were back out again today to finish the ramp and make it ready for concrete trucks.

Once again I did not get any pics up, mainly because it is so late now and tomorrow is my first day back to school for the semester. They will be coming soon, hopefully some before the pour so you can see how much gravel we have shoveled.

Somehow amidst all this work I found time to relax for a little bit to have dinner with the family and watch a movie with a friend, so instead of music you get a movie recommendation.

Movie recommendation: Air Guitar Nation - A documentary of the first annual U.S. Air Guitar Championships. C-Diddy Rocks! Rent it NOW on DVD or VHS from your local Blockbuster store.

Still, BBK.

(Not) Digging the footers

After a month of relative inactivity on the house, and a very unproductive Christmas break, digging finally started on the footers yesterday. Tommy very carefully laid out the outline of the house and found the level for the bottom of the footers. After a little discussion about the depth of the footers and how the concrete would be poured Tommy pulled his backhoe into place and began removing dirt for the footers. After a couple scoops Mike checked the level of rocks that Tommy had hit in the bottom of the ditch and unfortunately they were not deep enough to allow the footers to be poured underground.

After a little deliberation I decided to forego burying the footer and form up on top of the ground instead. As long as the inspector will approve it I will be pouring the footer and slab all at the same time. I began forming up today and will seek the inspector's approval tomorrow. I expect to have everything formed up by the end of the day Monday and have a crew come out and do the pour later in the week.

I'll try to post some more pictures tomorrow of what I'm doing with this.

Right now I'm listening to: "Five Years Time" by Noah and the Whale