A few HOLES in our plan

Friday is finally here. Both Scott and I wake exhausted. Not a very restful night's sleep last night. Tossing and turning, not knowing what today will bring. And it thunder stormed all evening and over night which we're confident won't help matters. It's been dry as a bone for two weeks and the day before the big dig it rains like cats and dogs. Really?  Grandma is that you up there who thinks this is funny?  Lol.

I toss off the covers and swing my feet onto the floor and pitter patter downstairs to get the espresso machine going.....trailed by two scampering kittens. Mmmmm, that tastes good. And I sigh. I make an iced coffee for Scott and bring it to him on the porch. He's up and watering the hanging flower containers and I can see the circles under his eyes as I hand him his coffee. No words needed.   A few minutes later we glance up to the sound of a vehicle coming down the driveway. It's Larry with his backhoe. Scott puts down the watering can and walks down to greet him. The engineer and builder aren't far behind.

Let the digging begin. Scott hands on hips. 

I sit on the porch drinking my coffee and watch as the day's events are about to unfold. Larry is getting the back hoe into position. Scott is loaded for bear and I can tell he's already having words with the builder. I'm thinking maybe I should get down there and break the tension.  Let's just get the hole dug and see what we see before we all jump to the worst conclusion.

The digging begins. Scoop, scoop, chug, scoop. Slowly but surely a hole appears. The soil is, well, soil. Sandy, surprisingly dry. We keep going. Measure...only 6', keep going waves the engineer. Seven feet, eight feet. We hit a hard clay. Bingo. That's good. Lots of looking, more digging, more measuring, more feeling soil as it comes up. Some head scratching. All dry. Even with all that rain. It's dry. Can I breath yet?  Nope. Let's make another huge hole. Over here this time, near where that wet hole was last time. Argghhhh.  So we all move over to watch it all happen again. My heart is thumping. Will this one be bad? Scoop, scoop, scoop. Dry. Dry. Sand. Clay. As we get down it gets a little wet, but hard. It seems we have good news. Some dialogue transpires that I can hardly hear through the thumping of my heart - but I decipher in the conversation that maybe we had hit an old farmer's drain tile last week.  But, things look good in these two gapping holes today.

Thank you Larry for your help!

Can I breath yet?

Pictures are taken, the engineer and builder recheck the weight loads, plotting and planning happens and in the end everyone sighs a bit of relief. We may have to be prepared for special handling should we hit wet holes in a few cases here, but we can move ahead.  I think it's the first color I've seen in Scott's face in weeks. And could it be?  Yes, I believe, even a glimmer of a smile.

So when can we start again?  Monday?  Ummm....well the crew is on another job now. He'll check and let us know next week when they can come back. Arghhh. And double arghhh. I was supposed to be in Tennessee at the International this upcoming week but cancelled my plans due to our project delays. I had hoped I'd at least be able to spend my vacation watching my new arena being built. But, that doesn't look promising. Darn. Well, at least our project seems to be back on track. So, I'm going to take that positive news and be thankful.