The noble Duke of York (an update on the über-project)

The noble Duke of York
He had ten thousand men
He marched them up to the top of the hill and
Marched them down again

The place up the hill has been thoroughly gutted, and now the putting of things back together begins. ...

The latest phase of the über-project, the update for the dainty abode uphill from us, began yesterday as they began prepping for the dig out of the lower level "storage area" beneath the garage.

How are they proceeding?

Well, the jackhammering noises I'd been hearing last week turn out to have been workers cutting a BIG hole in the floor of the garage. Yesterday, I could hear a skip loader moving something into the garage and backing out beep-beep-beep and then back in again and out beep-beep-beep. That something turned out to be a multi-part conveyor belt which is now set up in the garage with the end of the conveyor belt angled through the hole in the floor and down to the dirt level underneath.

Today the workers were digging out under the garage level and loading the excavated dirt and rocks onto the conveyor belt, which conveyed the debris to the garage level, where it was whisked away to whatever dust bin they've set up for it.

We won't mention the eight-inch-or-so diameter rock that mysteriously appeared in the sidewalk at the bottom of our front steps. Oh, no.

I decided not to work in our little patch of city-owned alley-yard while the guys are digging and the conveyor belt is chugging. Don't want to get conked by rolling stones or the moss attached thereto.

And when you're up, you're up
And when you're down, you're down
And when you're only half way up
You're neither up nor down