In which we bring in the big boy toys and get down to business

After waving good-bye to our in-house design department at the airport, we went back to our back-breaking project of digging out the basement at Slum and Blight.  Just as we were about to take our third break in an hour, our favorite contractor showed up with his big boy shovel and said that he could work for about an hour.  In that hour, he removed about a third of the concrete debris that we piled up for him and placed it in his truck for relocation.

Greg has been quietly figuring out in his head how we can get one of these beauties for our very own.  I mean really, look at that reach!  Larry can get about 12 feet into the space and pull out the concrete like it was styrofoam.  He ripped out the 8' x 2' granite sill under the garage door frame with little or no effort.  This pile of concrete was gone in 45 minutes.  

While Larry and Greg worked at that, I dug out the old cast iron sewer pipe that ran under the concrete floor.  Lester, our resident scrap iron scavenger will be extremely happy tomorrow when he comes around on his regular rounds.  

Meanwhile, the hand digging and the pick-axing continue.  I have been able to break up a lot of the ledge that we encounter, it is shale-like, and a couple of good whacks with the pick axe can usually fracture a nice chunk of granite off the ledge.  We have been able to dig down about a foot in most places.  While kind of a pain in the ass, the project is certainly working on my physique!  My granny-arms are slowly going away....which is a feat in itself!!