Basement update

We've been slowly working on finishing the basement. Over the summer we replaced all of the windows, which is something I never want to do again. First, I had to remove the old windows, which were embedded in the concrete and did not want to come out. I did pick up some sweet crowbar skills from it though. Then, the sills needed to be brought down a bit and then refinished. Silly me, thought I could do it with a cold chisel and hammer. After chiseling away for some time, and losing the feeling in my hands, Jess offered to take a few whacks at it. After a few whacks she handed the tools back to me to allow me to continue. Things were looking a little grim. I managed to get that opening completed. My concrete patching skills left for much to be desired but the sill was usable. I managed to squeeze the window in the opening after shaving the concrete down with a scraper (note to self, always make the opening bigger than you think, you can always fill the gaps afterward).
After the chiseling fiasco I saw the opportunity to acquire a new power tool. I came up with the idea of scoring the concrete with a masonry blade on a circular saw and then popping the pieces out with the chisel. Since I did not have a circular saw at the time I was going to have to buy one. I had no idea what I was in for. The amount of dust created while cutting concrete is astounding. There were clouds of it billowing out of the window opening and drifting over the neighborhood. At the same time I was being completely coated in it along with everything else in the basement. I even put up plastic sheeting to try to contain it, with only limited success. However, the scoring idea worked. After I scored the concrete pieces came out like I was popping the keys off a piano. Cutting concrete does take its toll however. On the last window the bolt holding the blade on the saw torqued off in the middle of a cut. Luckily the blade stayed within the saw guard so there were no injuries.