Track Hoes Out of the Basement

I went to the construction site earlier than expected today.  (My other favorite site was down.)
There is no denying the effect our morning sun has on the quality of pictures.

For the first time in months, there were no track hoes working in the basement.  I believe this is another sign that this is as deep as it's going to get.

The entrance to the basement is in the center of the south face.

Here's a better view of that entrance.  In this picture you can see that First South is completely gone.  The green construction curtain is at street level.

The dirt ramp to the basement can be seen from this north east view.

This is another view of the ramp from the northwest.  Notice the progress on the pier supports.

Welders continued to work today -- a nice job in 25 degree weather.

I found myself preoccupied with what I considered to be mysterious behavior in the north lot.
These are pools of muddy ice.  At first I thought these were pools of clay with Bentonite in it, but there were no empty bags to substantiate that guess.

Mr. Track Hoe drove to the east pool and began scraping up the mud, releasing a lot of steam.
It would have been more fun to watch if I had known what he was doing.

Ultimately, he left a huge pile of cold, black dirt on the side.  I believe these pools are directly above the slurry curtain and I don't know if there is a relationship to the pools and the curtain or not.  I also am not sure how the water got there, as it hasn't snowed much in the last week.

This machine took my attention away from Mr. Track Hoe.  He left his parking spot on the west side and maneuvered himself next to the north retaining wall and immediately drilled a hole about 10 feet deep.  When finished, the workman got out of the cab and used a can of orange paint on his drill to mark the depth.  He then moved the machine a few feet to the west and dug a second hole the same depth.  The machine next to him isn't as big and doesn't seem to have the same drill.  Both machines have been working on the north lot lately.  Notice that the stairway has been moved to the far east side of the north lot.

This is how deep he dug the second hole.

He spun the drill to remove the dirt when he was finished.  Don't try this with cake batter.

While studying my photographs, I noticed that the walls have been marked and measured.
Don't try this at home, please.

Progress continues on the structures which will support the red silo.

The orange silo in the south lot is gone.  In its place is this new plastic house.  I can't even guess.