Foundation Progress 6/20 - 6/23

Well it's been a couple of days since our last update. Here are some pictures of the progress on 6/20/ and 6/23.
It has been really hot here (95 - 100 degrees) until Friday. I talked with Sergio, the jeffe, and he was grateful for the respite from heat beginning on Friday.
They've made a lot of progress as the pics will show.
We still can't believe that the slope is so steep...

The last pic is of our two inspectors, checking out the quality of construction. They approve.

Open Mike In Sattler

Last night, Carl and I experienced another flavor of the rich culture here in the Canyon Lake area: we attending "open mike" night at our local pizza parlor (tag line "One Location Nationwide and We're Proud of It").

The musicians spanned the spectrum of age, genre, and musical ability. Our favorite was a duet (apparently normally a trio)which called itself Beaver Creek. The woman played the guitar and was the lead singer; the man sang harmony and played the harmonica; the missing person plays lead guitar and, I assume, also sings harmony.

It was a beautiful summer evening and we had a delightful time with our Tuscan pizza and some pretty good music.

Carl's thinking about taking the mike at some point. . .

The Foundation Marches On!

Sergio and crew continued their work this morning and began erecting forms for the north wall of the foundation. The lower corner is the tallest point of the foundation at about seven feet. We plan to build a covered, 12-foot deck extending down the hill from the foundation. That means the far corner of the deck will be about 10 feet off the ground.
Linda is involved in every conversation because she wants to learn everything she can about the construction process and techniques. Who knows? She may find another career here.
We have sown some bermuda grass seed in the septic spray zone and are watering everyday. We hope it takes, but the temperature is bouncing off 100 degrees and no rain in sight.

Well we have finally started building our foundation. It is going to be huge! Mainly because of the slope of the land, the rear corner will be about seven feet tall. Notice Linda next to the first structure to build the forms.
Not TOO expensive considering the increased cost of fuel, concrete and steel. Oh well, we move on.
We aren't too sure what these structures are, but we figure they will reveal themselves soon.
Seven feet???? Good grief!
On the left of the first photo is our foundation contractor, Kirk Svoboda, and to his left is his able crew, led by Sergio.

Boyles Law (Contributed by Carl)

The following is supposedly an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid term. The answer by one student was so 'profound' that the professor shared it with colleagues, which is why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well:


Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.

One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving.

As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today.

Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially.

Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.

This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, 'It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,' and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct......leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting 'Oh my God.'

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED AN A+.

Planting the First Seeds of Our Dream

We went up to our property this evening to sow Bermuda grass seeds on the spray zone of our septic system. In order to pass the final inspection, there needs to be evidence of vegetation growing on the spray zone -- we're hoping that we'll get some seeds to germinate. The package says to plant them in the spring while the temperatures are between 70 and 90 degrees. Well, it's spring but the temperature is more than 10 degrees higher than the upper range. Our contractor told us that, even if the seeds don't germinate, we should be able to pass inspection just by sprinkling some seeds on top of the soil -- the idea is to demonstrate that we are attempting to grow vegetation. I hope he's right. . .

Grow grass, grow!

Campmeeting Work Week Surprise!

Well, on Wednesday we drove 430 miles to Bloys Camp Meeting in the Davis Mountains of West Texas, to prepare for our annual work week. We have a lot of damage to the kitchen area that needs repair.
As we neared the campground we observed a beautiful sunset. As we got closer, Linda said it was so pretty it almost looked like the hills were on fire. Then, we realized that they were on fire. A wildfire had burned several ranches and was heading up the hills toward the campground. We were stopped by State Troopers before we reached camp so we had to find a place to stay for the night.