The fires are dying. Firefighters are moving to other locations or going home to wait for their next assignment.

You’d think after all the drama of living in a wildfire that we’d sit back and enjoy the calm.

Nope. From one adventure to the next.

We began the garage addition to our new home that we’d planned to start in June.

The very large shovel (I have no idea what its technical name is) arrived one morning last week at 6 a.m. to start excavating.

<a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/digger-leaving.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-3223" alt="???????????????????????????????" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/digger-leaving.jpg?w=300" width="300" height="224" /></a>I was so excited for two reasons.

One, the equipment meant we were actually starting what we’d talked about and planned for the last year.

Two, my son and his family were here. My two grandsons got to watch heavy equipment wipe out concrete and dirt.

<a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/mikemulligan.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-3224" alt="mikemulligan" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/mikemulligan.jpg?w=150" width="150" height="139" /></a>Even my son was excited to be so up close to a steam shovel at work. He remembered I read <a href="http://amzn.to/1aCIOVE" target="_blank"><i>Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel</i></a>  when he was young.

We both knew that the machine in the front yard ran on diesel not steam. For that matter, so did the entire neighborhood. Diesel exhaust stinks! And big machines are noisy.

The steam shovel in Virginia Lee Burton’s story was named Mary Anne, but our shovel looked like a male so I named him Stanley. Our driver was Steven, but he told us to call him <i>Digger.</i><i> <a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/diggers-steam-engine.jpg"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-3225" alt="???????????????????????????????" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/diggers-steam-engine.jpg?w=300" width="300" height="224" /></a></i>

Digger and Stanley worked hard for two days. Down came concrete retaining walls. Crunch went the steps to the house. Large stumps were no match for Stanley and Digger.

<a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/rock2.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-3227" alt="rock2" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/rock2.jpg?w=126" width="126" height="150" /></a>Even a ginormous boulder rolled into Stanley’s jaw like a fly ball to center field.

Our contractor Jeff brought his backhoe to shift dirt around, but Stanley’s wide jaws were no match for the little fella. He couldn’t keep up!

<a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/jeffs-bkhoe.jpg"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-3228" alt="???????????????????????????????" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/jeffs-bkhoe.jpg?w=300" width="300" height="224" /></a>We’re excited about having a garage before the snowfalls and during the cold winter months of mountain top living in Colorado.

The lovely walkway with steps from the driveway is gone. <a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/before.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-3233" alt="???????????????????????????????" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/before.jpg?w=150" width="150" height="112" /></a>

But we never considered we’d trade fires in the backyard for a major hole off our front steps.<a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/hole.jpg"><img class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-3230" alt="???????????????????????????????" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/hole.jpg?w=150" width="150" height="112" /></a>

We can only enter the house through the back door by walking around mountains of dirt.
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/dirt2.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3234" alt="dirt2" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/dirt2.jpg?w=300" width="300" height="225" /></a>It's going to be a long project adventure!</p>
Have you ever began a much anticipated project and been surprised by the reality of the process you had to go through?