When we started the River House project, we wisely chose not to demolish the garage/carport when we took down the house. The garage/carport has served as a storage area for tools and building materials as well as a makeshift office and shelter from inclement weather. Today, it was time to say goodbye. The entire demolition operation took just over an hour.

Having graduated from skid steer operation last week, I was invited to operate the excavator and had 9 minutes of demo action after a 1-minute tutorial (see the video below). I took things slow to start. Still, I had a nice rhythm going before I was compelled to surrender the cab.

The only other excavator I have ever operated is the one shown above. I made this as a Christmas present for Kyle when he was just a boy. Even with 25 years of woodworking experience under my belt since then, I would find this a challenging project today. All of the joints articulate and the tank treads are operational.