Our builders finally broke ground on
Monday 28 November 2011. This was after the house had been enrolled
on the NHBRC [National Home Builders Registration Council], a
compulsory insurance scheme against certain defects for all new
homes. The soil test came back as a category “C”. I'm not sure
what exactly that means, but the soil is very sandy.
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| It was a windy day, sand blowing back in the trenches |
Our municipal water meter was finally
installed by the city council on Tuesday, 3 weeks after we applied
for the connection. As of today, the builder has excavated all the
foundation trenches for the house, and has begun the excavation of
the boundary wall foundation trenches. A visit to site this morning
by the foundation engineer resulted in an instruction to the builder
to wet and compact the sandy soil tightly to avoid a more costly
foundation design. This process should commence on Thursday. So
that is the current status of the build. Once the engineer approves
the compacted foundation trenches, he can finalise the steel
reinforcing design. And then the building can commence.
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| Foundation trenches in the sunset |
Unfortunately what should have been a
much anticipated week where construction begins, has been upset by
some very sad news concerning Tigger, our little lion. In December
2009 we rescued Tigger from
Tears, a pro-life animal shelter in
Noordhoek, Cape Town. They do fantastic work in animal welfare, and
have a policy of housing their rescues until the find a permanent
home. Tigger was born in the shelter to a stray mom. He was about 3
months old when we brought him home. Since then he has found a very
special place in our hearts. Tigger is an affectionate, strong and
intelligent little lion. The shock came on Monday, when he was positively diagnosed with
Feline Infectious Peritonitis, an incurable and fast acting illness.
It is heartbreaking that we do not have much time left with him, and
treasure every moment he is still here with us. Be strong little
guy.
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| Kitten Tigger, a couple of days after arriving in his new home |
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| Tigger under his favourite tree |
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