For another I have no idea what I'm doing, and lack the right tools for the job. (Although I'm pretty sure it wouldn't make any difference anyway.) The coolest tool of the day was a magnesium float that has a 15 foot handle on it. They can rotate the handle to make the pressure come off of the float, or apply more pressure. It was so fun to watch them use it. You can see in the picture how long our driveway looks now. It's still the same size as it was, but it looks like you could land a 747 on the thing.
The Thursday before the big pour the contractor had removed all of the concrete in preparation for the big pour. We had no driveway, no sidewalk, and temporary stairs. Then the really big pour began--the rainy one. It was impossible to get into or out of our house without being covered in mud. Robin and I were on our way out to a worship service, so I grabbed some cardboard, laid it out on the ground, and took along an extra pair of shoes to change into once I got to the church. I was relating the story the next day to the contractor, and he said, "That is the last day you'll ever have to walk through the mud to get into this house." Very nice words to hear.
The really scary part of this whole process is that the contractors are almost all done with their work, and there is still a lot of work to do. Robin has commented a number of times on how she really likes having contractors who show up, work all day and get a lot of work done. As opposed to her spouse who works for five minutes, runs to Lowe's and then works another five minutes. I never should have let her experience real contractors who know what they are doing. Up until now I've gotten her conditioned to remodeling projects that go on forever. Unfortunately, this one will go on for a while on our end. Cellar Ridge is almost all done, but this job is far from finished. So I'm going to walk down my beautiful new stairs and do some wiring in my new basement.