17 steel support posts for the balcony!

Jimmy, JR and our neighbor AD (who did most of the welding) finally got all the steel tubing in place and are now putting the I-beams in place for the balcony. For those of you that think this is overkill....Jimmy decided that he wanted the balcony to have the same stained, stamped concrete as the porch, down below. 4" of concrete presents a whole new weight issue, so we had to have it re-engineered! (sigh)

looking like a house!

Jimmy, JR, AD and the 4 framers put up the first HUGE support beam across the steel posts, downstairs that will be supporting the concrete balcony. There are 17 steel posts....I don't think the balcony will be going anywhere! The house may collapse, but the balcony will be there, forever!

The house grows......

The bus garage is up and they're working on the top floor! (the main floor) in my "upside down" house!
All that's downstairs is a couple of guest rooms and a living area. The upstairs has the Master, another guest room, kitchen, great room, Jimmy's office, laundry, the garages, etc. And the kitchen has an all glass floor to ceiling 15' door that opens out onto the deck....pretty cool!

The container arrives!

In the meantime, JJ, Jimmy's Godson, borrowed the 45"flatbed trailer from the local sheriff, and went to Fort Worth and got our container full of furniture and "stuff". It was a real "squeeze" to get it through the Woodwinds.....a fact that is my point exactly!! A moving van couldn't get through there!

Loma Grande Drainage!

After the Fire, the rains came! Our friend A.D. and Jimmy went up to John's ranch, Loma Grande and re-diverted the water with his backhoe and bulldozer, so it wouldn't take out the ranch house. The fire got the barns, burned snowmobiles, sleigh and wagon....no animals thank goodness!

Monsoon season starts.....

After the Little Bear fire...they have been clearing out all the drainage areas and making holding areas for the flooding that is happening after the terrible burn scar. The top left picture was taken 20 minutes before the top right picture! The water is black and full of soot....they are trying to keep it separate from our lakes etc. Now I know how California feels.

Starting on the upstairs!

Phillip and his crew are starting on the upstairs, framing! The yellow thing below (in the picture) is what they use to shoot into the concrete. (22 bullets) The blue tool, in the middle, is for screwing the boards into the beams....they walk along and screw them in while standing upright....neat, huh?

Sittin' and chillin'

Spent a nice weekend just sitting and visiting with friends Mary Anne and Paul.