New Garage At Last

Husband has been "promised" a big garage for our multitude of cars ever since we moved to the current house over 22 years ago. We never built it here. Knowing that eventually we would inherit mom and dad's house near Yosemite, we encouraged them to buy the lot next door to their house for us to eventually build "the big garage". Tomorrow, that garage begins to become reality- the lot is being prepared for a 5+ car garage.

Earlier this year, we started working with a contractor on designing the garage. As it is a very sloped lot, husband wanted to build without moving much dirt, so the design has 2 driveways, with an upper and lower long and very long garage. He also wanted a his "storage area" to prepare for auto working, a washbasin and toilet, and I wanted my storage area. Once he and the contractor designed the building, he had over a 2400 sq foot garage, which is larger than the house. The county building permits and the local homeowner's association permits have been obtained, our contract has been signed and the bulldozer is in place. 

Follow along through our trials and tribulations of this build.

Step 1 is to remove several oak trees. Unfortunately, one black oak is in the middle of the "driveway" and will have to go. 

There are a few others that are worse for the wear, especially of the bad winter, including  a very large, but not very pretty, live oak.
I have also included a picture of Lake Don Pedro which is full of water for the first time in many years.