The guys finished tying up the steel caissons and we should finish drilling this week. In other news, Verizon is a pain in the ass! If you look over some of the photos you can see cables.

It is hard to see but there are two cables coming off that pole.

The cable is REALLY LOW!

 Anyway, I am trying to get them to move the cables. You would think that would be difficult but not impossible. To date I have been on hold for several hours and finally got a real person’s name and number. If only I could get in touch with Tommy Hinson, perhaps my problems will be solved? I’ve talked to people in repair, safety and other customer support areas to no avail. The worst was repair, the manager Maria informed me that my neighbors would have to file an order to move Verizon’s line off my property! It took almost an hour to get through to someone that this wasn’t my neighbor’s issue but was theirs. We shall see, next up calling Charter Communications. 

Here are some pictures of the new steel.

As you can see there are different sizes since each hole is a slightly different width. The front ones being much larger than the back ones.

The site has changed a lot since we first started!

This is where the steel will go! That hole is deep.

The steel came in yesterday! Also, we got through four more caissons so we are getting much closer to completing that aspect. However, we might be running into problems with the top four. We originally planned on hitting those from the top, however, due to the placement the drill rig would have to close off both lanes of Las Flores. So, we are going to have to approach those from the bottom. Also, the bottom two holes might incur additional “coring” fees. Boo! I guess there will always be some sort of cost overrun, but I sure do want to keep these down! As always, here are some pictures.

Working on the sixth caisson

This steel will be going down into the holes once it is tied up. Thanks to our neighbor for lending their front loader to get these suckers up onto the property!

Those bundles are what will be used to tie the long steel beams together.

This is the most people we have had on the site to date. The guys are placing the steel beams up to tie together.

We had a site meeting yesterday with Nathan, Sean, David (from RJR engineering), Jenn and myself. We checked out the progress on the drilling and discussed having David test the holes to ensure that the geology is all correct. Next week he is going to go down into the holes and inspect the dirt and rock. It took two days to drill the first hole, however, Hard Rock is trying a new technique using a smaller bit to get down deep and then using a larger one afterwards.

Nathan and I on the lot.

Drilling the second caisson, check out the teeth on that drill bit!

The fire came REALLY close to our road. This is looking at Rambla Pacifico which goes down to the right of the picture. To the left is the fire camp which is at the point where Rambla Pacifico and Las Flores meet. The fire never crested the ridge and appears to have been held back right at the edge of the fire camp!

http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&hl=en&ll=34.062455,-118.64876&spn=0.010257,0.020642&t=h&z=16&om=1&output=embed&s=AARTsJpnOA3ioEtcI9rx_v7gyZqlolGTYwView Larger Map 

Here are some more pictures taken from Rambla Pacifico.

They started drilling today! Jenn, Stephen and I drove up at lunch to take a look. Coming up the driveway you can see the drill is working on the lower right corner of the house.    Here you can see the outline of the house as well as our temporary fencing and power. Note the four stakes at the top, those are the top caissons then we have four towards the center of the house and finally the front two.  Looking up the hill you can see the stakes for the top of the property and the plastic fencing which is up along the road.  It appears the fires did not crest our ridge. I’ll drive up this weekend and find how close they did come. 

Eli Sr. and crew were up on the property this week preparing the way for the drilling machines and other equipment that needs to get up to help us with construction. They did a great job not only creating the paths we need but ensuring that we do not have a lot of erosion problems. We also had a nice green Andy Gump toilet installed, which should keep Nick happy! Here are some photos of the progress. 

The Andy Gump!

Temporary Driveway with sandbags and gravel

Looking up the lot you can see the three levels for drilling and equipment.

This is the first level for staging, parking and where our septic will go.

Another view of the first level, the guys had some car problems.

The next level, which is a pad for the drill rig, notice the stakes for the corner of the house.

Looking back across the lot, featuring Mr. Wollman.

Everything is switchbacked for the drilling rig.

Up to the top cut which is where the drill rig will put the two middle caissons. Notice the pole for temporary power!

Looking back from the top drill platform.

Looking down the lot from the top drill platfrom.

 All in all after four years of nothing we are actually starting to do this thing!