The beam has been poured! Forms were stripped the day after, and then blankets were installed to keep the curing concrete above freezing. Removed after several days and voila! - a little gray wall...

The engineer's plan had it as 20 inches high x 10 inches wide - it ended up only 16-19 inches high over the cardboard "void forms", and it is 12 inches wide. Waiting to hear from the engineer if this is a disaster or not. Meanwhile I'm diggin underneath and running the main sewer line underneath, as well as sleeves for the geothermal pipes and future utility lines to the future shop. Then to get our excavator back and fill in most of the area inside to raise the crawlspace floor level. Then, it may become time for ICF forms to be laid - but it is getting cold up there....