The Front Yard

The front yard of the Cheney Cottage is shaping up. In the past week, we've made two major changes to it.

First, Hilary used the bobcat to grade the yard. It had been pretty uneven, with piles of dirt and debris. We have been cleaning up the site, making piles a lot of the broken concrete and bricks. Hilary loaded those piles into a truck to haul them away, and then he used the bobcat to fill in some of the trenches and make the front yard relatively level.

The Cheney Cottage, with the power pole out of the front yard

Then today, the company came to remove the temporary power pole. With the power hooked up to the house, the Cheney Cottage finally does not have the ugly yellow power pole in the front yard.

But as the front yard becomes more finished, the side yard has been torn apart. Hilary also dug the trenches for the water and sewer lines. The plumbers have already been in to hook up the sewer laterals, and on Monday we will have them inspected. Assuming they pass, we'll then get the new supply lines run on Tuesday, and then we can fill in the trenches.

Running the new sewer laterals to both houses (Cheney to the right)

Yesterday, Tom and I met with the concrete guy, and if all goes well, the new sidewalk, the steps and the front walkway for the Cheney Cottage will be poured next Saturday.

There are more trenches to dig: for the electric line back from the Cheney Cottage to the Delaney House, and for the gas line back to the Delaney House. But hose little trenches pale in comparison to what's been done. When the plumbing trenches are filled in, we can also start working on putting in the driveway. And landscaping can actually begin in front of BOTH houses.

This weekend: more of the same. We still haven't worked on installing windows in the Delaney House, and we have to get them out of the Cheney Cottage. So that is probably next on the list, in addition to working on plumbing.