Day Two: Rock and Roll

Today, day two of excavation, started early. At 7:45am, the jackhammering began and the major rocks were broken up. There wasn't too much "dig" progress today, but mostly breaking large boulders and hauling them away.

Five truckloads of rock were taken out today and tomorrow the digging will commence.

The excavator told me there's probably 3-4 more days until all of the excavation is completed. The grading issues and tiered decking are all requiring additional digging, so that combined with all the rock he's hitting, explains the extended length. Again, this doesn't seem to be too far from the norm for this area.

I had a nice conversation with the excavator today while he was filling up the CAT with fuel. He's an older gentleman and owns all the equipment and works alone. He told me that it's been pretty slow this year, and year to date he's at about 50% of his normal annual earnings. We discussed the economy a bit and the high price of diesel. Talking to him made me feel a little better about our decision to move forward with this project. He shared with me that two of the dump trucking companies they work with have closed down recently, and it made me realize that maybe our "little" contribution to the economy can help keep a few people afloat for awhile. I just hope things start turning around sooner rather than later, so we're not having to cash in on the karma card!

The above picture shows the end result after 2 days of excavation. It is actually starting to look like a pool, but we still have a long ways to go.