Sunday, February 27, 2011

Dodging Snow Storms

Thursday, February 24, 2011 - Day 11

Snow and ice slowed up progress at the beginning of week two on our building project.  By Thursday, we had just enough of a break in the snow to get a few things done.  The builders installed the perimeter drainage tile, stones, and back fill dirt.  They also prepared that ground for the garage pad by covering with stones and dirt and topping it off with insulating blankets to keep it from freezing.



They got finished up just in time because another snow storm rolled in on Thursday night and dumped another 5 inches.  We stopped out at the ranch on Friday to take some pictures of our snow-covered basement stairs!


We're hoping for better weather next week and for all the snow to melt so they can finish pouring the footers and slab for the garage.

The Best Salsa Ever

We've been trying out a lot of new recipes here at the Rivir Ranch so we're going to start sharing some of delicious things we've made.

First up is the Pioneer Woman's recipe for the best salsa ever.



1 can (28 oz) whole tomatoes with juice
2 cans (10 oz) Rotel tomatoes - one mild and one original
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup cilantro
3 cloves of garlic, pressed
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/2 whole lime juice
1 whole jalapeno, quarted and sliced thin (optional)

Combine whole tomatoes, Rotel, onion, garlic, sugar, salt, cumin, lime juice, cilantro and jalapeno in a blender or food processor. Pulse until you get the salsa to the consistency you’d like.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

We Have A Floor!

Day 5 - February 19, 2011

Today, the builders finished up the week by adding more details to our big basement.  The outside walls were coated with a thick layer of black sealant.


They framed up the walls in the basement, added the decking (floor) and stairs.  We stopped out at the house to take some pictures in the basement and on the stairs.

It was pretty windy and cold outside, so we didn't stick around too long.  After our wonderful photo shoot, we decided to hop from the deck to the outside of the hole.  Normally this would be as simple as a little jump and graceful landing.  Well for Carl, this worked out well as he and the camera made it safely over to solid ground.  However, Lindsey's jump was a little less than graceful.  After getting a short running start and taking a flying leap, she looked like she was going to land the jump.  Not being the engineer that Carl is, she forgot to calculate the inertia created from the running start.  Her feet touched down fine but her body didn't stop!  After landing on her hand and falling on her butt in the dirt, Lindsey jumped up a little worse for wear. 



Needless to say, we headed straight to the truck!  She's a trooper though, no blood no cuts just a little dirt on her pants and a sore hand.  (We're not really sure if she over-exaggerates pain, but we posted the picture above to let you be the judge.)  We're looking forward to the upcoming week of building and blogging.  We can't wait to see how much they get done.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Rubber Boots Required

Day 4 - February 17, 2011

Today I (Lindsey) went out to ranch to check out the basement progress and it was quite muddy out there. Since I went out there after work I had on dress clothes so I just slipped on my big rubber boots and Carhart coat, grabbed the camera and went to check out the house. As I was walking around the house snapping pictures my boot got stuck in the mud, my foot came out of it and went right in the mud!
They took down the wall forms and poured the basement floor today.



Laying the Foundation

Days 2 & 3 - February 15 & 16, 2011

On Tuesday and Wednesday the concrete crew poured the footers and the walls.



Wednesday, February 16, 2011

It's Go Time...

Day 1 – February 14, 2011


On February 14th, Carl’s birthday and Valentines Day, we broke ground for our new home!  We’ve been waiting for this day for quite awhile and we’re so glad that we could finally start the building process. We were both able to take the day off work so that we could be there when the crew from Wigent Excavating would start digging the basement. We got there around 8:30am and the crew was already there preparing the equipment and ground. Around 9:00am, they began clearing off the frost and weeds; there was about 6-8 inches of frost in the ground.



Then around 11:00am, they began digging the basement.














It was a cold and windy day so we went out to lunch and home to warm up and when we came back in the afternoon they had the gravel for the driveway down and the basement hole was getting bigger.



The basement continued to get bigger and bigger, it’s a 1,351 sq ft basement. Spencer came later in the afternoon to check out the progress. And while he was at the ranch, he got a call from Frontier and accepted a new position on the Indiana State Plow Crew – Congratulations Spencer!!!





They finished digging the basement around 6:00pm. Tomorrow they will set and pour the footers for the basement.