Darren worked tirelessly all weekend and I dropped him off at Oakland airport tonight.

We had a big, big day today as the temporary site office came together quickly under Darren’s leadership and building acumen. Actually, he did most of the work.

Darren and I left for the Home Depot first thing in the morning. Yes, we had a problem after I lost my keys in the parking lot and returned to 1621 to get another set of keys. Darren had retrieved the keys by the time that I made it back.

We crunched straight through until Jo-Anne arrived with our lunch (leftovers from the pizza and wings last night).

Lunch break for Darren and Bryan.

Jo-Anne walked around the site and snapped a couple photos for us.

Darren and Bryan taking a lunch break.

Having worked flat out all day, we’re on our way back to 1621so Darren can shower up before I take him to Oakland airport.

Darren leaving with the lunch kit.

Thank you Darren!

It was a big day today. The crew arrived at 8:30 am to take the Canary Island Pine down and Darren and I arrived five minutes later to start building the temporary site office.

Removing the limbs on the Canary Island Pine.

Almost to the top ...

Final few limbs ...

Just the stump left.

Yes, it was a full day.

Taking the Canary Island Pine down was a significant (and emotional) accomplishment that created much-needed space at the front of the site and removed a mature tree so the Redwoods can continue to grow and thrive.

We did it! The excavation is now complete and our water management program is in place. Just in time as the rain storms are scheduled to arrive in a few hours.

The excavation is complete and the Bobcat is finishing the ramp into the excavation.

The excavation was completed on the west side right to the face of the concrete piers.  You can see the 12 concrete piers on the west side in the photo below.

Excavation to face of concrete piers on west side.

The truck arrived to remove the excavator by 4:00 pm.  I was flagging vehicles on Winchester so we could work quickly and safely in loading the excavator.

Truck in place to load the excavator.

In less than 15 minutes, the excavator was loaded on the truck.

Excavator onto truck.

In final preparation for the rains, Jorge and the crew put tarps around the excavation walls and excavator floor.  Our water management plan is now in place.

The rains will arrive in hours.

Tarps in place; rains are arriving in hours.

Paul left last night on the red-eye back to Toronto, leaving the pool cover work completed. Thank you Paul!

The excavator started digging first thing on Monday morning and the first end-dumps started rolling.

Excavation starts - we've 'broken ground'!

Loading one of the first trucks.

Our ‘vision’ was that it would be relatively easy to excavate for the lower level as we could have three trucks waiting to be loaded on Winchester Boulevard. Yes, this was the case! You can see one truck leaving with a full load and three trucks waiting to be loaded.

Trucks on Winchester Boulevard.

The excavation was now underway nicely.  The other crew was completing the ‘shoring’ of the east and west walls so the excavation could continue.  This involved attaching the steel beams to both walls securely and  bracing the bottoms of the walls securely and safely.

After going for his traditional early morning mountain bike ride in Sierra Azul, Pete was directing the shoring crew to ensure the walls will be secured as per the plans.

Pete directs the shoring crew.

It was good to see the shoring crew working in parallel with the excavation.  We have rain storms predicted for later in the week and the objective is to complete the excavation before the rains arrive.  Thus, working in parallel is exactly what is required.

Excavation in process - you can see that the soil is quite dry. Also, notice the workers attaching the steel beam to the east wall.

After seeing the helper measure the excavation depth, I was concerned that we establish the ‘correct’ depth for the excavation. Changing depth would not be good as either too much soil would be removed or we would have to excavate more. Measure twice, cut once!

Measuring the depth of the excavation.

I drove to Bill Brown Construction offices and worked with Bill and Tim going over the excavation parameters. It is always good to have a white board handy (note for my temporary site office).

Drawing on Bill's white board.

Of course, it is very handy to take a high-resolution photo of the white board to help improve one’s memory of the discussion.

Excavation parameters on the white board.

Another part of the ‘vision’ for the construction was being able to cut the plates off from the slab-on-grade with a sawzall. Jorge started cutting the plate from the foundation as soon as the excavation was ready under the west wall.

Jorge cutting the 2x4 plate from the slab-on-grade.

After gloating over the Edmonton Oiler’s win over the San Jose Sharks last night, Paul and Bryan were on the project site fairly early on Sunday morning.

We had to get some supplies from Ace Hardware (go figure) and then started in earnest.

Laying out the first panel.

Our plan was to make the ‘box’ first, and then fill in the joists and put the 1×4 strings on the bottom of the joists.

Paul drills the end joist to complete the first

It was a struggle but we managed to fit the 3/4 inch tongue and groove plywood deck and complete the first panel.

The first 8 foot panel is now complete.

Putting another sheet of plywood in place on the second panel.

Moving another sheet into place.

Deck in place now.

West view of the completed pool cover

I picked up our building permit from the City of Monte Sereno today at 10:15 am! After paying the school fees yesterday and engaging Charlie Touchatt to excavate the basement, having the building permit in hand was sweet!

I called Bill Brown and everyone else involved so we could start mobilizing to start the excavation on Monday morning.

At the same time, I was looking at the materials that were delivered yesterday to build the temporary deck to cover the swimming pool. I wasn’t particularly pleased with the quality of the materials as the tongue and groove plywood was badly warped. I suspect that this will make the installation more difficult and time-consuming, but it was too late to replace the materials.

Warped Plywood for Pool Deck

It is a beautiful blue-sky California fall day and I’m looking forward to Paul’s arrival so we can get the deck built to cover the swimming pool.

Pool Cover Site

Charlie delivered the excavator to the project site at 4:30 pm so we can ‘break ground’ on Monday morning.

Yeah!

Oh, I almost forgot. I engaged Jose’s tree service to remove the 75 ft tall Canary Island Pine tree on Saturday. It is time for everyone to pay their last respects to the tree. I have to confess that I was saddened by the upcoming event.

Last respects to Canary Island Pine