Last Work Day in August

It was a little cooler today, and actually quite nice in the shade. Mike and Nate showed up this morning along with "Bobcat" Tom. Their mission was to remove the garage slab, the sidewalk from the garage to the house and the porch rubble. They did a fine job indeed. It took four dump truck loads. They also "scooped" out the four azaleas and the Rose of Sharon along the east side of the garage and placed them along the east fence. Don't know if they will survive, but the azaleas are probably quite old and the Rose of Sharon has nice red blossoms and, considering the garage fell on it, seems very resilient. Here are the pictures from this morning and this evening.

From the 2nd Floor Bedroom vantage point

This Labor Day weekend, T and I will be doing a little archaeological digging around in the freshly uncovered yard. We have already found a few interesting items. No privy or cistern yet, but we are still hopeful.

This morning, a gentleman from Ameren showed up (at the request of Rob, the electrical contractor) to review the situation. He told me that Rob had told him that they were going to start the electrical work next week. Wow! Wasn't expecting that yet! At this point in the project, the electrical work would all be infrastructure: upgrading the system from 200 amp to 400 amp with addition of a second breaker panel in the basement of the main house; relocation of the outside Ameren meter; replacing the existing overhead electrical, phone and cable lines with underground lines. It is this last item that caught my attention (we can always spend the day(s) at the Scottish Arms if they shut off our power and air conditioning).

Installing the underground power lines means trenching, which means we need to know the route of that trench. We know it starts at the power pole in the alley. We know it stops at the meter on the back of the house. Trenching a straight line between the two is one option, but we have landscaping plans to take into consideration. Our landscaper (Bob of Poynter) is still working on the basic landscaping design. It will have planted trees, shrubs, walkways, retaining walls and water feature(s). The water features will be deep enough to accommodate koy. Mike said that typically, the power lines are not that deep, maybe 18" or so. Therefore, knowing the landscape layout will be important. I quickly shot a note to Bob making sure he is aware of the potential for next week. He suggested, and I concurred, that we need to get together with Mike and Rob next week to discuss the matter. This electrical work also prompted me to go ahead and formally award the solar panel part of the project to Straightup Solar. We have been working with Betsy at Straightup. We have opted to go with a system consisting of 30 x 300 watt panels (made by LG) with a rated capacity of 9 kW. I sent Betsy the contact information for Mike, and told her the electrical work may start next week. She is going to need to coordinate the solar work with the electrical contractor (Rob) and get their power cables in the trench as well.

If that is not enough for next week, the sewer work is supposed to begin as well. Last night, Tony (never did get his company name) came by and said he had been asked to provide an quote to remove the three maple tree stumps. He looked at them, shook his head, sighed heavily and said "he would put some numbers together". This morning, Mike told me what those numbers were. They could take the stumps out next Tuesday, but the cost would be 25% higher than the quote I had received last month from Nick of Ballwin Tree Service. Ballwin is the tree company Bob (of Poynter) had recommended. I suggested to Mike that I call Nick to see if he was still interested and when he would be available. I called Nick and he said he was interested and would get back with me before the end of the day on when he could do the work. So far, I have not heard anything from him. When he was leaving this evening, Mike and I agreed we needed to have the stumps removed before the sewer line was installed. Also on Tuesday, the inside plumber (Mark) should be out to bore scope the downspout laterals and determine if we have a problem and what our options are.

Late note: I was copied on an email from Betsy (Straightup Solar) to Mike, introducing herself and stating that a project manager for the solar part of the project will be assigned and contacting him next week.

It is going to be a busy week.