Let There Be Drainage

Yesterday I finished digging the trench -- the good part is that when you're out digging in the rain there aren't many people walking by to provide commentary on your work -- and ordered gravel.

This morning, it was delivered bright and early.

One yard of gravel waiting in the driveway

OK, maybe it was raining and gray, and not so bright, but it was definitely early.

Used-up gravel pile

It was a chilly day, so I was relatively comfortable as I shoveled the gravel into the trench. By the end of the day I'd used up much of the pile, and I left the rest to use for leveling out the bottom tomorrow with Noel's help.

Gravel in the trench

There's no real intellectual work behind shoveling gravel into a trench, just a little thought to evenness and level. Tomorrow we'll use the laser level and a measuring tape to get everything all nice and right for the footings. I think each side needs a little more, and both sides need tamping down, but we're pretty close.

The overall picture still looks pretty unchanged

The overall shot of the site still looks pretty boring. Soon we will have rebar sticking up, though!

The sump outlet to the curb

For those who asked about the Stupid Pipe, this is where it goes: this badly designed excuse for an outlet to the curb. As you can see, water comes out of the top as well as going out through the face of the curb. We're using this pipe right now because we've been having some weird valve failures in the irrigation lines and we've turned off the irrigation system, which means we need to get rid of the overflow from the sump somehow.

And now, a completely gratuitous kitten picture (they will be one in April, so they are still kittens even if Dash, on the left, is over 15 lbs):