The site is cleared

On Thursday, the excavator started the process of transforming our lot into a construction site. The first steps are to install a silt fence, and scrape topsoil from the lot. So I was sitting in the car in front of the lot, expecting him to show up with a little bobcat, when this appeared:

Needless to say, he didn't have any trouble digging. Here he is, taking the first shovel-full of dirt:

The silt fence prevents dirt from washing away from the lot and clogging up the storm sewers or eroding onto someone else's yard. He dug a 6-inch deep trench, installed the silt fence into the trench on wooden stakes, and then back-filled the trench.

Once the silt fence was installed, it was safe to start moving dirt around inside the fence. The next step was to scrape the topsoil from the site into a couple of piles. That way, when the excavator digs the foundation, we can reuse the topsoil. Here's what the site looks like now:

We don't have any more weed problems on the lot, and the top soil is ready to spread again after the foundation hole has been dug.

So late last week, our lot became a construction site. On Friday, they'll excavate the basement. Then the fun begins...