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!