The Bloody Trench is Finally Full of Gravel

My dad and I finally filled the trench with gravel. After installing expanded polystyrene foam around the inside edge (see picture below, the supervisor kitty or fore cat is in the foreground) we filled and leveled the gravel trench.
As with most filling operations, this one had to be done about eight inches at a time with regular packing. My father will freely tell you that shovelling 1.5" gravel is no fun. In the above picture you can also see the waste plumbing pipe coming through the trench. It is now under about 1' of gravel.

After the gravel, we dug the interior footer trench (below, top) and started in on the forms (below, both) for the grade beam. I see cement trucks in our future.