As we got closer to breaking ground, we decided to make an investment and purchase a Caterpillar tractor, which we would use to do the excavation on the lot. The photos below are from the first dig, just after delivery of the tractor. We were curious as to how it would dig through the snow and frost, and it did this with no problem at all! This was in February of 2014.
As the snow started to melt in mid March, we started to work on getting our site ready to build on. We had already cleared over 200 trees and lengthened the driveway over 300 feet over the past 2 years!
The first days consisted of dealing with a large rock that was where our garage was going to go.
 |
| The Massive Rock |
 |
| Teamwork: Mini-Excavator and Caterpillar working together! |
After ripping out as much as we could with the machines we called in the big guns and had our fathers step in and disassemble the remaining rock surgically with feathers and wedges. This took a lot of drilling, and figuring out where the rock would break, but it worked!
 |
| Drilling holes for the feathers and wedges |
 |
| Another piece breaks off! |
 |
| Removing the final piece of the massive rock! |
