Framing & Foundation

It was 72 degrees yesterday, which is about as common here in February as it is in August. (Or, if you are unfamiliar with DC summers, as rare as an ivory-billed woodpecker.) I thought I'd swing by the house while I was out running errands and take a few quick photos of the work in progress.
I was spotted by Steve, one of our builders (both of whom are named Steve), and he invited me in for a tour of what they were doing. Not only did he make me wear a hardhat, but Rob insisted on taking a photo.
Anyway, they had two crews at work -- one framing the floor for the second story:
...and one pouring the concrete for the foundation underpinning.
This was the first time I'd been in the back yard since we moved out. It hasn't really been accessible since there's always been a dumpster filling up the driveway, and the back door isn't really an option:
This time there was a big cement truck in the driveway, so we had to bushwhack through my neighbor's landscaping to get around it. I somehow managed to get concrete splattered all over my jeans as we were passing, which everyone found very amusing. Well, they were headed for the laundry, anyway.

It turns out the family room and back porch were not original to the house but added some time later, so there is no foundation underneath. I knew the family room was a later addition since the finishes were different from the rest of the house, but had assumed it was originally a sleeping porch or some other type of structure that was later enclosed and finished, not an addition. The strange thing is that there's a house a few doors down with the same floor plan, and they have a family room and mudroom just like ours. I am perplexed by this...

It was a little disconcerting to see the yard in its present state, which is essentially a big mound of dirt guarded by a couple Bobcats:
I'm sure the previous owners who had the whole yard professionally landscaped would have been horrified.

Our architect and her husband arrived just as I was leaving. I took one last photo on my way to the car so you can see how the house changed just during my short visit:
Then I was off to CVS, Safeway, and the gas station in my concrete-splattered jeans. I did get a few strange looks, but maybe people thought they were the latest trend in designer jeans and were wondering where they could get some. If you see a bunch of teenagers at the mall wearing jeans spattered with a gray, chalky substance, that's all thanks to me!