The beat goes on

 Today was all about the foundation.  The general contractor put a waterproofing sealant around the outside of the walls, worked on piping that will run under the connecting room, and the excavating contractor backfilled the front wall of the basement.  Once that was filled and compacted, stone was laid on top of it and leveled.  Eventually a cement floor will be poured, but the foundation needs to be capped before that can happen.  The first delivery of building materials arrived, too.  

Day 13

I'm finally starting to get a feel for the size of the overall house, especially the basement. The garage will be a little more than half the space, and the remaining space will be split into two small rooms.  Since I'll mostly be coming into the house from the basement, the first room I walk into from the garage will be a mudroom and it's a little smaller than I had imagined it.  I'm not disappointed, though; I think it will be more than large enough.  

I'm really looking forward to the driveway being finished, and I hope that happens next.  The electric wires for the new barn run underground near the house site, so they pulled them to ensure they didn't rip them up accidentally.  I've been without power in the barn for a few weeks now, and with the shorter days and colder temperatures, it's been a little inconvenient.  Last night temperatures dipped into the teens, so I had multiple extension cords running from the old shed to the new barn to run the heated water bucket for the mules.  Not the most safe option, but luckily the temperatures look to be heading up for the next week and I shouldn't have to run the heated bucket again for some time.  I have a solar light coming that I'm hoping should light up Flea's stall and work better than my little headlamp.  I'll have to affix the little solar panel to the barn exterior and run the power cord in through the window, then affix the light to the interior wall.  This little hiccup has me rethinking my original barn design, and I may ask my son-in-law if he can put in a larger window in that wall sometime in the future.  Hindsight, you know.