little people

I found these two loitering on the floor in the corner of the kitchen. Guy and Girl were in a time out. They must've been up to no good. Rumor has it that a naked toddler escaped from bathtime wearing a bunny towel on her head and released them later this evening.

arts fest 2009

Last weekend was Arts Fest in downtown Iowa City. Great art, great weather, great food, great tradition. Ahhh, great fun.

goin' with the flow

Things were going swimmingly with our house excavation project until last Monday when the driveway came out. Ironically, one of the noisiest days of the project began with the pounding of concrete when Zuzu was sick and needed to stay home. Ty took the morning shift at our casa and called me around 10 am to say, according to our contractor, the soil under the driveway was horrible. At noon I came home and saw a vast expanse of chocolate pudding where our driveway used to be. Three construction size truckloads of goopy mud had to be hauled away.

Around 2 pm the guys knocked on the door with news. When they dug a four foot deep trench the length of our driveway, water started flowing down it. It turned out a river was coming out from under our garage. I could not believe what I saw; Zuzu’s rubber duckie could’ve floated down the current of this thing. Down in the yard water started to bubble up through a newly dug hole. These were not good developments. A test by the city indicated it was all natural ground water; our house was built on top of a natural spring. A friend who works for the city confirmed a creek, which likely went through our property, ran where our street now stands. The whole area was wetlands. The developer filled in the creek and built our neighborhood.

With more drain tile added to relieve the river and a few extra truckloads of rock, the concrete was poured:

We had the fun of entering the house by walking a plank instead of climbing over the front railing. Ty carried Zuzu across it; I think Zuzu would’ve loved to walk the plank but we didn’t want to chance having a little impression of her rump in the concrete.

It’s still an eyesore outside but we are hoping the regrading (and topsoiling, and seeding, and patio rebuilding, and retaining wall replacing, and air conditioner reinstalling, and…) begins in the next few days? weeks? whenever the piles of dirt around our foundation have officially settled. Zuzu can’t wait to see the diggers in action again.

diggin' it

Zuzu summed up our house excavation project by waving her finger in the air while exclaiming, “That’s a LOT of mud. That’s VERY VERY dirty!” After water in the basement twice, two failed rounds of interior drainage system installs (think jackhammers, concrete, big mess), a triple sump pump system running much too frequently, and a very big “etcetera” to sum up everything else, the only thing left to do was dig up around the house.

Three big digging machines arrived last week. Out came the deck, patio, retaining wall, anything living (plant or chipmonk), and loads of dirt to expose the foundation below the footings. Without wasting any time, they put in tile. One crew member said the water was "gushing" in and another said it "had a current." The gist of it was that it didn't sound like a normal situation.Also revealed was the original drain tile (incorrectly installed), crushed and full of mud. Lots of clay and sand. Lots of water at the footings. And oh yes, old pop cans and the original metal LOT FOR SALE sign with metal holder (what, doesn’t everyone have something like that buried around their foundation?).

As of today: new drain tile? Check. Rock? Check. Blackjacking? Check. A/C unit sitting cockeyed in the middle of the back yard next to a ditchwitch, a pile of dirt, and a couple of pallets piled with the stones that used to be our patio? Check. Toddler that wants to play in the dirt? You betcha. Next week: bring on the jackhammers, goodbye driveway.