Hoya Saxa

Wednesday was a really busy day for house-building preparation. Kootenai Electric Cooperative swung by early, about 7:15 a.m., to disconnect our electricity so Spokane Rock Products' dump trucks could bring in 29 tons of gravel to strengthen the culvert over Cable Creek and build a sweeping connector from the county road to our driveway, skirting three large sentinel trees flanking the head of the drive. I was surprised that the process of disconnecting power was so quick and easy - no more than 15 minutes. Since I had no notion of how long the power would be off, I'd packed some freezer packs around my insulin in the refrigerator. Three hours later, my meds were still cold, and the food was still safe to eat.


The gravel dump was scheduled for 8 a.m. At 7:30, our construction manager came out to emplace a Stratford building sign at the head of our driveway. At first glance,  a neighbor could have confused it for a realtor's sign, but it includes our construction address. 


Spokane Rock Products arrived a bit before 8 with a dump truck and trailer, one filled with 5/8" gravel and a trailer with 1 1/4" stone. With the electric power line down, the dump truck was able to raise its bed and spill its load on the culvert - 10" deep, 12 feet on either side of the culvert's center line. Then, as the gravel supervisor, our construction manager, and I worked with shovels and rakes to spread the gravel on the culvert, the dump truck went out to the county road to load up more gravel for the sweeping connector. Seventeen tons was not enough, so he went back to the pit in nearby Pleasentview to pick up another 52 tons to build up the connector. To appropriate the Georgetown University cheer, Hoya Saxa - What Rocks!


While the gravel was being dumped, out friend and neighbor, Leon Hardy, pulled up and offered to bring his tractor down Saturday morning to spread out the gravel in the connector. More friends with tractors. You've got to love it.


Power reconnected, a hot cup of tea went down well.


Next up - excavation. Stay tuned.