As the garage basement neared completion, Mark began working to complete our new driveway.  He pulled out and hauled away more stumps.

   The driveway is fairly complicated as it zig-zags to climb in elevation to the basement garage and to a side parking area near our upper garden.  Mark worked on the driveway beginning at the top and then worked his way down to the main road.

  As you can see from the photos, we have a lot of gardening work to do this spring on the slopes.  The picture below shows the upper drive as it leads to the garage and the upper garden parking area.

  And here's the entrance to the driveway from Hickory Hill Road.  Notice the rocks on the lower drive?  The rock work is just gorgeous!

   Here's the finished driveway from another angle.

  

   And here's a photograph of the rocks which also form the upper wall of a garden we will be putting in next spring. Mark surprised us with steps leading down to this garden area.

  Mark still has a bit of grading work to do, but it's mostly finished. The paving company came this week to see the driveway. Their recommendation is that we allow the soil to settle and to go through this winter with its freeze and thaw cycles. If we asphalt the driveway now, we may wind up with cracks after the soil settles. So we'll wait and asphalt in the spring. 

  Our concrete contractor, Chas, began digging the footings for our new addition. It took his crew a day to get it ready for inspection.

  The next morning the inspector examined it all and gave us the go-ahead. So that afternoon the footings were poured as the concrete company  pumped the concrete up the hill to the site.

  Day 3 saw a flurry of activity as Chas's crew put up the forms for the poured walls.

  The concrete company was busy on Day 4 as they had three trucks lined up along Hickory Hill Road to deliver the concrete which was poured into the wall forms.

  There was no activity on Day 5--none, nada. It seemed odd not to see some type of progress. On Day 6 the workers returned to take down the forms and there were our walls...

  I'm so glad Chas thought of adding the door. We had completely forgotten and that would have meant we would have to open the garage doors anytime we wanted to enter the basement. 
  Day 7 was another quiet day with no activity. We had a company waterproof the basement over the next two days. First, they sprayed a latex/asphalt mixture on the exterior walls which would be underground after backfilling. 

   Next, they added filter board. Filter board is a pervious material which will absorb any water and allow it to drain to pipes which will take the water away from the basement. This basement will be dry. I despise a damp, musky basement!

  Phil returned to Alabama since the rain moved into Highlands for a few days. It's a good thing he did! I suffered my first ever kidney stone attack late Saturday night and by Sunday afternoon I was begging to be taken to see a doctor. That's some rough stuff!  After Phil saw that I was 100% improved, he made the trip back to Highlands on Wednesday.
  Mark returned to backfill the area around our new basement on Thursday and Friday while Phil spread a load of gravel in preparation for Chas's crew to have the floor poured.

  Chas had his guys work over the weekend to finish the prep work for the floor to be inspected and poured.

 It was Tuesday before the inspector came, but he gave us the approval to finish up the basement by pouring the floor. Unfortunately, the rain moved back in to Highlands which delayed us.  Phil came home on Wednesday since the rain was moving in anyway. He was scheduled to drive to north Alabama to pick up our new family member--a Havanese puppy we named Boots, BUT Phil had a kidney stone attack early Thursday morning!  What are the odds of the two of us having our first kidney stone attack less than two weeks apart?!
Luckily Phil's pain passed and the ultrasound showed the stone was small enough that it was moving through without much discomfort so the doctor approved our trip to Highlands. We picked up Boots on Friday and made it to Two Holt around 10:00 that night.

   Bright and early Monday morning, Chas returned with his crew to finish our basement by pouring the floor.  And there you have it, friends...the garage basement which will serve as the foundation for Two Holt's addition.  Now on to the new driveway!