The concrete pumper heads back to the site.

Setting the outriggers.

Beginning to unfold the pumper arm.

The arm will be able to reach all around the 40'x40' perimeter from its location in front of the house.

Due to all the mud, the concrete trucks could not drive in on their own. Fortunately, we still had use of the 4WD Ford tractor which could tow each truck into position.

Pulling the first truck off the harder driveway onto the slippery hard pan. This first truck steered a little too close to the large puddle in front of the house and eventually got stuck.

As soon as the 30-ton fully-loaded concrete truck hit the puddle, the driver's side sank a bit. Even the Ford couldn't pull this one out. Waiting for reinforcements.

Here you can see the much lower water level behind the house after we pumped most of it out yesterday.

The pumper arm completely extended, waiting for the second concrete truck to pull in (visible in the distance).

The second concrete truck was pulled straight across the grass, and into position by the mighty Ford tractor.

The east retaining wall forms have been filled and the rear basement wall forms start getting filled.

The pumper reaching way over to finish off the rear basement wall. The concrete is filling in around 3 window frames and one double-wide door frame which are embedded inside the forms.

The pumper operator (in the foreground) runs the pumper by remote control as he takes direction from the concrete forman on the wall.

Our farming friends brought another one of their tractors to assist in pulling out the concrete truck - a 4WD 8-wheel Case International Harvester. The two tractors pulled in tandem, but could not get traction.

The only 4WD front-loading concrete truck in position behind the pumper. This truck actually drove into position on its own.

Filling the forms for the fireplace footer.

A view from the large dirt pile behind the house.

Another worker thrusts a vibrating probe down into the fresh concrete to help is settle.

Since the stuck concrete truck had been sitting for almost 2 hours, its concrete was beginning to set. Our friends brought over their John Deere loader and began leveling off the newly formed ruts between the truck and the pumper.

We began by taking one bucket-load at a time from the truck to the pumper, but it turned out to be a very slow process. The concrete had set up so much that it became risky to feed it into the pumper.

Instead, we took loads up to our culvert near the road to build up the sides. It took quite a few loads to lighten the truck enough that the Ford was able to pull it out. Although we could not use most of this truckload in the walls, it was not a complete loss.

Pulling one of the last concrete trucks into position.

Tim from ROCK HARD FOUNDATIONS stopped by after the concrete trucks had left and helped set the vertical rebar pins in the top of the wall. Each rod sticks up about 3 feet and they are spaced about 2 feet apart. These will become the means of securing the first log course.

Towing the pumper back to the road.