The “squeegee” delivery turned into a bust on Thursday. The company I talked to could sell us the material but would not authorize their trucks to drive it up our mountain. Their excuse was that the road was not well maintained enough to put wear and tear on their equipment. I kept my comments to myself when talking to the guy on the phone. So, two steps forward, one step back.

We scrambled until we managed to get a trucking company to haul the “squeegee” up to the property and found a company willing to bring the material up Friday afternoon. First Reader and I drove up the mountain yesterday to see whether anything had changed. The first thing we saw was the pile of pea gravel (the “squeegee”) at the foot of the driveway.

Progress is slow but steady. Our contractor told me the material would arrive late in the day, so he couldn’t get all the exterior drainage filled in before dark. He did make significant progress in the front where the lower patio will be.

We hope to move into our new home by Christmas—New Year’s at the latest—but I’m beginning to think that might not happen. At this point, it still feels a little like a pipe dream, but we’ll keep marching forward, even if we slide back more frequently than desired.

As our recovery case manager reminds us: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.