Dear Family -- As long promised, we started sitework on the Gould lot about 3 weeks ago, and just starting pouring the first retaining wall (along the driveway) leading to the hammerhead. We will initially finish the driveway and hammerhead so we have a good flat area to park, bring deliveries and haul dirt from. Going across the ravine we are building what looks like the Great Wall of China -- it will be about 20 feet tall, although the bottom 5 feet will be buried. I'm finding that thanks to California's seismic code, retaining walls are a little like ice bergs -- they're bigger below ground than above ground -- huge footings and an unbelievable amount of steel (overkill). Anyway, I thought you would enjoy seeing these photos. We will probably be grading and building site walls through the end of November and hopefully pouring foundations and starting the houses by the time you are here for Christmas. In some respects, the site work will be almost more interesting than constructing the homes, in terms of looking at some interesting changes.

One of the reasons the retaining wall is so big is that the Sycamore trees were misplaced on the grading plan -- actually ended up being 28 feet farther uphill than they were supposed to be, so we had to shift the position of the wall and work around the trees. In the end run, it may actually work out better because the trees are now much more prominent than before (you actually swing around them when coming into the drive).

One interesting thing, when grading we hit the source of the spring, and even though its the dryest time of the year -- we have a pretty good water source -- it's running about a gallon per minute. I am going to build a sump basin to catch the spring and site run-off and we'll pump it up the hill into a holding tank that we'll put about 40 feet above the house -- I suspect we'll be able to use the natural spring to water the entire yard rather than using city water -- probably save us $150 per month. I'll be having it tested to see if it is drinkable or fit to put into the pool. Talk about being self-sufficient. -- Dad.