The Pad is in!

This week involved getting the septic tank put in, the finishing of the part of the plumbing that goes under the pad, and the pouring of the concrete pad.
It's been a nice, calm week. No major problems. No failures of any kind. Just building proceeding as it should.
I'm quite impressed with our general contractor, George Stewart. Without telling George's age, let's say he's been doing this for literally decades. George has a group of subcontractors he has worked with over and over. They show up; they perform; they do a good job. A neighbor who moved into her home in the same neighborhood took over a year to build a relatively small house. Her builder did things like not have anyone lined up to put in the stone fireplace. A few days before they were to install the fireplace, he decided to look for someone! She ended up finding a person to do the job herself. By contrast, George is there checking on things as they progress, making sure the next sub is lined up and ready to go. Lumber gets delivered the first of next week, and George has the framers set to begin the next day. No delays. I like that!
Scottie and I went up this afternoon and planted a few things. (Rumor in the form of my husband has it that "no dirt shall be left unturned" when I'm around.) At this point, I'm just going for bank stabilization and a little bit of privacy planting. Nothing can be done up close to the house of course. This is Scottie watering a Big Leaf Maple planted on the down side of the house. The green house in the background is the one that took over a year to build.
Now that the pad is in you can get a sense of what the real view will be. We actually have a decent view of Moro Rock. Really, there are no bad views in any direction. To the west we see houses, but not so close as to be bothersome, and over the top of them is yet another nice view.
So, we progress. This is not a large house, and I'm hoping framing will move along quickly. Even so, I'd say at least two weeks to frame. It will be interesting to see where we are by Christmas. Would be fun to put the traditional tree that is usually put up on commercial buildings on the top of our little house. Maybe. . . .