June 18, 2004

Continued from page 1.

Greetings from Granbury - 3, page 2

Meanwhile, Owen had to dispose of a dead tree that had been blown across the driveway during a storm the previous night. You'd think it would be fairly easy to drag a little dead tree back over to the vacant lot where it came from. But that tree had been dead quite a while, and was heavy and as hard as granit. The tree proved to be stronger than the old hand saw, so Owen had to go dig out the chain saw to get the job done. The tree had the discourtesy to fall right on top of some plants we had planted a few days before. But they survived.

On June 14^th the dirt work began. Three truck loads were brought in and dumped on the site. This is probably the lowest area on our lot, and perhaps the worst place to build so far as drainage is concerned. But it is the best location for access.

The crew sets the forms for the walkway from the back porch to the building. To the left, plastic bags provide shade for newly planted bottle brush plants in the raised planting bed. The roses, previously pictured in big green pots, have been planted in the same bed.

It's 1:05 PM and Dan Dunn and José Ortiz put the finishing touches on the water line into the building. The "layer cake has been covered with heavy plastic and rebar anchored above the plastic and in trenches that criss-cross the foundation.

This is getting long enough for the load time for dial up connections. So we'll continue on the next page. To be continued on next page ...