Well, the most I will say is that work has been very, very hectic of late. Some productive and good things happening, but hectic is indeed the word. A touch stressful here and there too. So, not much posting last week. Add to it that I am trying to get some long overdue stories out to the world (and apologies to some people I met on my first embed), and, not much time.
So, Saturday found me planning to do some brickwork, replace the front gate, and mow the yards. The best laid plans and all…
I get started fairly early Saturday morning, with bricks, sand, and implements of de-struction (que music, Alice’s Restaurant) and go to get started. I determine by digging and poking where the old sidewalk still runs in front of my front gate, and dig out part of my front walk that meets it—and has disappeared under dirt and such. Once exposed, I take a sledge and bring it down good and hard for a bounce. A good bounce. Several more hits as hard as I can manage finally result in a much lower bounce and the start of some cracking. I take my trusty mattock and… How deep is this thing? What?
Eighty years ago, concrete was cheap. Quite cheap actually, and some was really good and some not so good. Well, the person who built the lair got good concrete, and I have to admit it has held up very well. The problem now is tree roots, subsidence, and some odd damage done by those who came before. As I said, it seemed to be good concrete, but the other reason it has lasted this long is that it was four or more inches thick.
Thank goodness it was only a bit less than a square yard I had to bust up, and it did take some time and effort. I hauled the chunks around to use around the tool shed, and then began prep work for the new brick walkway. More digging, leveling, etc. Discovered rather quickly that the amount of paving base I had gotten was not sufficient, and figuring out that the polymer locking sand was a bit low as well, ran to the home store for more of each. I’m not sure how many bags of base, but think it was six. Then about 200 pounds of sand got lifted up and poured in place. Bricks laid out fully, then pulled up, more leveling and prep (and more sand), then put down in place.
Ooops, one thing out of sequence there: I had to remove the old gate posts before I could do the base and bricks. This meant taking old-fashioned post hole diggers and digging out next to each post (3 feet deep), pulling out the posts, and doing prep work for putting in new gate/fence posts. Digging through the mole’s nest (apparently) was interesting, and I did bury the mole though without full honors. It was not decapitated, but crushed those morbid enough to want to know.
Bricks laid out a final time, the new posts went in and things were backfilled by hand so that the posts were secure and the bricks can’t move. Packing was done by hand with a wood piece and by foot.
The new gate was interesting. I cut the boards with a hand saw in a mitre fixture. Of course, none of the screws I had were the right ones for the job. One more trip to the home store found me with better screws, and corner braces and angle braces out of stainless steel. Between all the braces and the four-inch-long screws, figure it should not go anywhere… Add in hinges, and up it went. Then got the pickets up, put on the post caps, and, what’s that? The battery operated radial saw didn’t like the old fence, but then again it doesn’t seem to like anything, so no surprise. Just meant I had to cut the current fence parts with a hand saw. Joy.
Finally got the old fence tacked up in place so Jenny can’t go play in traffic, and got the tools put away. Not neatly mind you, but put up. Even got some of the trash up, but at 12 hours plus since starting, decided the rest could wait. Hot, long, long, hot shower. Dose of tequila. Should have taken pain pill. Stiff and sore even before getting in bed.
Sunday was interesting, it hurt do do anything, and sneezing made it feel like I was ripping apart. Got up, started moving, and discovered that it was trying to rain as I was trying to start yard mowing. Hmmmmm. So, called in to the sheriff and got a burn permit. Getting all the brush, tree, wood trash, and downed limbs from the last storm burned needed doing, and with rain coming seemed to be the perfect time. Spent several hours burning, hauling stuff to the fire, and all that. No rain after an initial sprinkle. Sun. Hot sun. So, while watching the fire I also picked turnips that had gone to seed, so I could take the roots in to work to give to victims co-workers, along with giant radishes that had also taken off while Jenny and I were touring. Tops in both cases into the mulch pile in multiple armfuls. Picked some eggplants and more as well, did some weeding, and finally put out the last of the fire as I had dinner plans.
Shower, and off to meet some friends from Alabama who were driving down I-65 after a trip to Chicago. Good dinner, great time. Home, and to bed. Naproxen is my friend. It still hurts to sneeze.
LW
