I went to see the hole. I knew the house and garage was history but it still seemed a bit odd not seeing them when I pulled into the driveway. From this vantage point things almost look normal.

Once past the gate it’s easy to see things are far from normal. Small mountains have sprouted in the lawn. Thank goodness the excavator left the area between the trees undisturbed. I was afraid the trees would be killed if he smothered the whole root zone by piling dirt there too.

There’s the remainder of the house but where’s the hole?

Holey Moley. That is one mother of a BFH*.

Guess they decided to shore up one side rather than go any farther into the neighbor’s yards. Thank goodness, I really didn’t want all that extra work putting their yards back together too.

*Big Freaking Hole

I didn’t drive 400 miles to just go look at a hole. Tomorrow I’m headed to the east end of the island and my favorite perennial grower. I need to find out exactly how many potted plants I can fit in my truck.

The house suffered a few minor scratches before the main event on Friday. When I left the site on Thursday the house looked like this:

By 8:30 Friday morning the excavator had already chewed up the entertainment room, the garage and most of the kitchen.

Within minutes the claw had ripped into the main house.

And a few minutes later the entire back of the house was chewed into rubble.

From the front things didn’t look so bad.

OOPS

Not everything was demolished. One addition was spared in the hopes of saving it.

Hard to believe but once the house was chewed up it fit into 9 dumpsters. The last of the rubble was hauled away by Saturday afternoon. The only reason it took so long was the trucking company couldn’t keep up with the excavator. It should have been gone the same day.

A few answers:

No it is not my house. I have to drive 8 hours to get here. The landscape was ‘mine’ and it really hurt to see 6 years of gardening wiped away. The good news is that I get to do it all over.

What is the 26 foot deep hole for? – The new house’s basement is going to have a really high ceiling. You can guess why the ceiling needs to be so high. I doubt very very much anyone can guess correctly. If you do, you have a better imagination than most.

I’ll be headed home tomorrow. The dig isn’t going to start until the end of next week and there’s something a bit more important I need to take care of. After 32 years it’s still a good idea to be around for my wedding anniversary next Thursday.  (think about that date for a minute) And no, it’s no joke.

I arrived at the site minutes before the excavator arrived. I was hoping to get at least a day to save as many perennials as possible before the monster started to tear things up.

All I could do is watch as the beast’s giant claw yoinked Viburnums at least 40 years old as if they were only seedlings in a pot to be thinned out. The Hemlock proved to be no match either and was easily pushed out of the way.

How do you remove a refrigerator from a house? The easiest way possible. Improvise with the tools at hand. Here’s the most efficient way to make a new door able to fit even the largest appliance.

It still takes 4 guys to move the fridge. Two to dance, one to watch and one to do the heavy lifting once the fridge is in the proper position.

Up, up and away.

The beast wandered off but it’s not finished yet. It’s due to return on Friday to finish off the house. Then the big dig can begin. When it’s over there’ll be a 26 foot deep hole where the house once as.