Mixed Nuts: Excavation day one

Quotes

"There is no better way to thank God for your sight than by giving a helping hand to someone in the dark." - Helen Keller
When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me." ~Erma Bombeck
You may never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice.- Unknown
Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow' ~Helen Keller
Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.
Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."- Dr. Seuss
"Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react to it."
"God doesn't give children with disabilities to strong people: He gives them to ordinary, everyday people, then He helps the parents to grow stronger through the journey. Raising a child with special needs doesn't TAKE a special family, it MAKES a special family."Author Unknown
I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go – Abraham Lincoln
Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man. ~ Benjamin Franklin
There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is a miracle - Albert Einstein
The journey of a 1000 miles starts with a single step
Sometimes in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives you a fairy tale
Where there is great love, there are always miracles - Willa Cather
The Difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a little longer
Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness
There are two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots. The other is wings.
Be the change you want to see in the world
Don't tell God how big the storm is, tell the storm how big Your God is..........
Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it
Fall down seven times - get up eight - unknown
Despite our differences, we sink or swim together
Life may not be the party we expected, but while we are here, we might as well dance
"The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones." -Confucius

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Excavation day one

So our first big project on our house got started today! Bright and early the excavators were here to start their work. First order of business, clearing trees. This is probably one of the biggest jobs because we had a lot of trees. They came in - chainsaws a blazing, and started cutting down the trees. They started with small trees and started lining them up for the chipper. The kids thought the whole thing was really cool and were mesmerized for hours at the window watching them.
So small trees down - time to bring the chipper up the hill to chop them up. So, they attach the chipper to the one machine they were using (unknown name!) and started up our steep side hill to the back yard. They tried for 1 hour to get this machine up there and it just wouldn't go. Then, last effort gave it a big pull and.......the chain broke. This was BAD, but it could have been much worse. 1) There was no one behind the machine when it broke loose and 2) there were no THINGS behind it besides just another machine that it ran in to. The chipper broke loose and started barreling down the hill and slammed into another machine they had for excavation. You should have seen their faces and all of our faces. We froze. Myself and the kids were watching from the window, but the two excavators about had a heart attack when it broke loose. Only damage were some digs in our driveway where the machine drug along as it rode backwards. So, after that, they decided to leave the chipper where it was and bring the trees to it. Smart choice. It took longer that way, but there didn't seem to be another way.

So now all of the trees in the small area we are having cleared are gone! It looks neat. Now comes the work of leveling and smoothing and making the yard. Should be interesting! It shouldn't take them too long. I am sure they are coming back tomorrow. I will continue to take pictures. I have some pictures below and I took a short video of the biggest tree falling down. You can't really hear the sound it made when it fell and hit the ground on the video, but it was still cool to watch. Even the excavators were nervous about it - it was tall! You never know what way it is going to fall, and it was close to the house. But, all was well. :)

Mat parents arrived last night around 8:30pm. We were happy to see them. They had a nice trip and arrived safely. They are staying with us until Sunday and we have lots planned. Today they helped me clean the majority of the downstairs windows. We stood on the ladder and Sally almost toppled off, and THEN we found out that the windows come out so we can clean them without going outside. Go figure. but they look nice. We also did the walls and the baseboards and the heaters. That alone made the room look so much better. We cleaned all the screens and put them back in the windows as well. Very productive!

After dinner we went to the near by ice cream place for a treat after a long hard day of work. I think that is our 5th time there in the last couple of weeks! Yum!

The kids are doing well. We signed Arlington up for some things this week. I signed her up for a soccer camp, vacation bible school and fall soccer. I am also going to sign her up for Daisy Scouts for the fall. We will see if she likes it and how involved it is. I did Brownies and Girl Scouts as a kid and had a great time, so we will see how it is. That will help keep her busy!

Finley is doing well. She is starting to be able to tell us "what happened". For example, if she is crying, she will tell us why. Today was "Cainan bite finger". Great. BUT - in Cainan's defense, she DID stick her finger in HIS mouth. :)

Cainan is getting right into the terrible twos. He is being mischievous, and throwing small fits. Not too many, but even though this isn't my favorite age, it is nice to see him advancing normally!

Mat is doing well in his job. It is hard to believe next week he will have a whole month in already. He seems to really like it and we are LOVING Connecticut. It feels like home. We felt like we belonged here from day one. As we make changes to the house to fit our needs/taste, we feel a little more at home all the time.

So here are some pictures from this week. Some of them are of plants - a few more from our yard that we are trying to figure out what they are. Enjoy! First is the pictures and then a 1 minute long video of the tree falling below that.