This morning I was up at 6 AM. I had a few last-minute preparations to complete.
We decided to do the last-minute grocery shopping in the cool of the day on our way out to the property. Dave dropped me off at Publix while he went across the street to McDonald's for our morning meal.
After we got the groceries packed in the ice chests, we were finally on our way at 9:30 AM.
We arrived to see the crane busy hoisting the trusses. We were amazed to see that the entire main house was already complete. The front truss of the garage was just being hoisted, so we quickly parked for our bird's eye view. We had to snap the pictures even before we had our Observation Station in place. While I snapped away with the camera, Dave set up our viewing area.
This first picture of the crane/truck is not the sharpest picture, but it is the only one that shows how far the front wheels of the crane truck were off the ground. (You'll see braces to hold the truck in place as you view other pictures.)
John (L) and Chris (R) are on the roof. Robbie is on the ground. Robbie attaches each truss to the crane's cable so the trusses can be hoisted.
John (L), Robbie (center) and Chris (R) are nailing the truss to the frame.
Heavy-duty crane operation is in process in the next two pictures.
Dave and I were not expecting any other activity for the day, so we had the Observation Station kind of moved more into the street than normal. All of a sudden a lumber truck comes barreling up the street--we scrambled to get out of the way in time.
The lumber truck parked at the top of the cul-de-sac for a few minutes while waiting for the crane to finish clearing out of the way.
Here goes the crane!
Here's the status of the house between the time the crane left and the lumber was delivered.
After the crane left, the driver of the lumber truck got on his fork lift and began carting the lumber and materials to the site. I guess he didn't want to park his truck at the building site. He was backing down the street toward our house (I can call the building a house now that it has its trusses), when he almost ran into Dave's car with his load. So, up went the forks to get enough elevation to pass over the car.
Robbie wanted the lumber placed in three different locations. As the forklift driver was rounding the hill to take a pile of lumber to the back of the house, he, too, had a run-in with the dumpster.
The forklift driver ended up pushing the dumpster's back end over toward the neighbor's property to get more clearance. That did the trick and he was off and running with his load.
While all of this chaos was going on with the lumber delivery, an engineer from Hart EMC (electric company) showed up. He was very friendly, as you can see by his wave. He had an electronic gadget with him as he was trying to plot the new electrical lines for their mapping system.
Just as the lumber delivery was completed, we asked Robbie what time they wanted to eat. He responded with, "In 5 minutes." Well, Dave and I were not quite ready for that response! So, we scrambled to get everything set up. I'm sorry to say, I did not take a picture of our "buffet." I am so disappointed with myself. But, Dave had set up a 6-ft table for me to put the food on for serving. He placed the small tables and chairs around for the guys. The crew was so hungry, I barely got everything on the table before they were chowing down.
The menu was sandwiches (make your own) with a choice of ham or turkey; three types of cheeses, lettuce and tomato; homemade macaroni salad; two kinds of chips; and two kinds of homemade brownies. We had sweet tea to drink.
The guys were really appreciative of the meal, and it was great for us to see how much they enjoyed it.
We put everything that needed to be kept cool back into the ice chests.
Of course, it was hard for the guys to go back to work with full tummies, but they did their best.
Soon after, LD arrived to join us for the lunch and a chat. So, we pulled out all the cold stuff so he could eat.
As the crew was leaving, Chris came back to make another sandwich to take home. So, we got out the cold goods again. I also bagged up a couple of brownies for them each to take home.
All in all, I think it was a huge success; we really enjoyed getting to know each of them better, as well.
Here's a few pictures we took after the crew left, which show the progress for the day.
Another View of the Conversation Window
Looking Toward the Kitchen
In the Garage Looking Toward the Livingroom
Kitchen Side of the House
Front of the House
We headed home about 2:30 PM and just collapsed (after unloading the car and putting away the food stuffs). The heat really got to me today, so I just chilled for the remainder of the afternoon and evening. I'm hoping tomorrow, although it will be hot, will be an easier day as we plan to do nothing more than sit at our Observation Station and take it all in.
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