A Seredipitous Start

I've lost track of the times over the years I've shared something in this space only to have things reverse themselves within 24 hours of posting. But you know what? In this instance, I'm really not gonna wonder or complain much about the hows or whys!

Late Thursday, right as I was about to flip my phone to airplane mode for the evening, I received a text from the excavator:

I stared in disbelief for a moment before sharing the news with Dave. Fortunately, Dave's fumbling to set up a contingency schedule for our previous 3-week delay hadn't resulted in any hard plans yet, and he was able to accommodate this new schedule to the new barn schedule. HUZZAH! 

I can hardly believe my good luck that my future office was delayed for just the amount of time we need to get my barn project off the ground. I had previously been concerned that Dave's schedule of jobs was going to get all cattywampus with the excavator's delay, thus resulting in a longer delay. It's beyond serendipitous that things are working out this way.

And so, on Friday as I sat peacefully reading a book in my living room, I heard the telltale whine of a heavy engine and looked outside to see the equipment arriving. Never in my life have I been so overjoyed to see heavy equipment.

Eeeee!

Excavator + extra bucket heading to parking spot

Barn will be just downhill from front of excavator

I wasn't certain if they would start on Friday or not and had planned to head to town to run errands, but after they returned with the dozer, I heard the drone of the engine and opted to hangout for a little while and watch. 

See, while I spend a lot of time working on the environmental side of construction (reading project descriptions and analyzing how the action may impact the environment directly and indirectly), I rarely see this kind of thing in action. It was SO cool. And so very practical! I knew it would be, but still, some things you can't fully comprehend until you actually watch them happen. 

He just marched down there and started plucking trees out of the ground as if he was picking flowers

And boom, suddenly the treeline looks different

Limbs in one pile, trunks in another, stumps in a third

The day reached a point when I knew I was going to have to head to town, so I sauntered over to speak with K before leaving, "This has been SO COOL to watch!" I grinned, approaching him. "I sit behind a desk and don't get to actually watch this kind of thing so much as read about it. It is completely FASCINATING. Your son must think you're the biggest hero in the world because you get to play in the dirt and tear shit up every day."

K, laughing, "He does. And yeah, this is pretty much how the start of any construction job goes!"

We discussed the project a bit more before parting ways for the weekend.

What a difference an hour makes....

They're back out there today, though I'm unfortunately not teleworking with my birds-eye-view of all of their progress. I don't expect them to do much more than finish clearing the trees today because of the rain in the forecast. Though I can't wait to see the progress when I get home!

This is just step one of the process, but I am so very exciting things have started. It all just felt so surreal before. To see things happening and to watch the landscape change makes it all feel so much more real. I hardly have words for my excitement...

More updates to come later this week as things progress!