Holding My Breath

One pallet of rocks had collapsed during the time the rock masons were here working. I could see that one of my giraffes was under it. I just held my breath that she would be salvageable. Worried about her legs for two months. Left it there until the masons left because  I didn't want to see her broken legs. About 2500 pounds of rock had fallen on top of her.

When I moved all the rock I was surprised. The giraffe survived with out a mark!!  My Angel was crushed.  Very sad.

Geometry

Bill has a mathematical mind; I don't. Angles are a foreign language to me. I am very astute with many subjects, math is not  one of them. Together, we cover all important matters. His knowledge of angles came into play with our downspouts. The rain collection apparatus along the West Wing are heavy duty gutters and downspouts for a metal building. They lay flat against the building so they are out of the way while doing their jobs. With the addition of our rock the downspouts can no longer lay flat against the building; the rock is in the way.

Bill started out by attaching the downspouts in their original holes in the gutters. Then cut them off just above the rock. Can't stop there or the water would find a way to wiggle behind the rock and get into the building.

Possibility of storms tonight so a temporary fix in case he doesn't have time to finish both of them.

 Look at his great angles! When I was helping him by holding the downspout so he could cut and bend I would try to figure out what the final thing would look like. My bends would have  been backwards everytime.

He got both completed before the rains came in.

  







They look incredible. Both have large pieces of flagstone for the water to hit and disperse so we do not have erosion problems. He is a super talented man, this man of mine.

A Sum of Its Parts

This

Plus this

Plus this

Plus this

 Plus this

Plus this

Plus this

 Plus this

 Plus this

 Plus this

 Plus this

Equals this

Side view

 Taller than me! Big wide open spaces need a big mailbox

All the pieces came together to make a beautiful mailbox.

Always Teaching

Bill enjoys sharing his wisdom. He and I are known as the "Go To" people for every kind of information you might  need. We were building the retaining wall and of course someone had to stop and get instructions on building one of their own. Let the traffic go around, important business going on here.

Bill stopped work to answer their questions; he took all the time they needed. Explained the whys and hows of it all. And, of course, told them if they get stuck just come up and ring the doorbell and he will help them figure it out. We know they live just down the road from us because they were Edmond Rock customers and Bill delivered product to their house.

Another Job Done

Retaining wall finished; time to bring down top soil and back fill against the blocks. We still have cousin in laws tractor to use. Thank goodness, that would have been a lot of yard carts filled and dumped by hand.

 We brought a dump truck of top soil home after selling the rock yard. We dropped it in the middle of the race track so it is easy to get.to. We are slowly chiseling away at it.

 Of course, the kids and their pup dog had to get in on the fun.

 Bill would point and Darrick would drop right where it was needed. Even if he had to get creative with his driving.

 Used this to give us the level from the top of the wall to the existing grade.

 A happy attitude makes light work of a dirty job.

 Everyone has the right size of tool for them and they moved lots of dirt.

 The girls even got to help their Dad drive the tractor.

Finished, now let the Bermuda grass grow. Easy mowing for Bill and his monster lawn mower. Nice slope, I won't need to worry about him tipping over.

They're Ba-a-a-a-ack

Masons came back for a few days. They finished the water table sills across the wainscoting and started the mailbox. They used our mixer since theirs was at another jobsite.

 Rock work on the garage finished so up to the roof Bill and Darrick go.

 Putting the trim pieces up to finish the walls off. I am not allowed to climb on roofs anymore so Darrick needs to come help.

Not a Barn Raising but a Wall Raising

Bill and I were going to start on the little retaining wall down at the street. It is 95 square feet of block. As much as we would have liked to put in a natural rock wall we are getting to old to move those blocks so we went with concrete blocks.

This is where it is going. Lowe's delivered the blocks out to us. I saw the order desk write on the delivery form our exact location and the words, "Do Not Use GPS." Of course, the driver tried to get to us by using GPS. Had to interrupt a meeting I was in twice to give him directions.

 Prep work is the most time consuming part of any project. The bottom level needs to be straight, level side to side and back to front.











Ran a string line to keep the wall straight. It was raised for each level to keep us straight.

 Now it is time to dig out where the blocks go. You want your bottom blocks to be below grade level. This gives you wiggle room for leveling and it ties your wall into the ground.

 Load of sand to use as our base. We are going to have lots of mason sand left over from our rock work. We are trying to find places to use it.








Good start on the wall.

 My job was to dig the trench and keep Bill supplied with sand and blocks. He had the job of being on his hands and knees all day and building the wall.

We keep finding random poured concrete around the property.  We found a huge piece that had been poured for some reason. It wasn't just buried 2 feet below grade it had been poured for a reason. There was no place for a post or anything. It was just in the way of the wall.  Luckily, I have a world class strong man as a husband and he was able to break enough of it off  for us to continue.

 No explanation of why this would be here.

 There was a void that needed to be filled so we put the concrete chunks there.

If we had waited another month we probably wouldn't have been able to dig our trench. We definitely have clay here. There was a three foot stretch I couldn't do. Bill had to get up off his knees and take my place at the shovel.

We could only go so far before needing to put landscape fabric behind the wall and back fill to give the wall stability. At one point I was putting the fabric behind the wall, bumped it and it became a leaning wall. Even after pulling it straight if you are being critical and eyeing the wall from the side you can see the spot.

 We got to this point of the wall all by ourselves and then the Calvary arrived. Darrick had come over to work on Bill's pickup. Then Tiffany and the kids came. The boys filled in behind the wall until the lure of the Go-Kart and 4 Wheeler was too much and they had to go play.

Darrick's cousin, Jonathan, came over to discuss the pickup with Darrick and then his wife, Stephanie, and their two kids came. Suddenly they jumped right in and were building right along with us. Stephanie even had her cute sandals and too nice to be building a wall clothes on.

 We really go going with all this help! 

Yes, I can be a little cockeyed at times.

 Even the little ones got in on the act. Brynnlee figured out what we were doing and found herself a  hoe to pull together some dirt and put it behind the wall.

 Mallory and I worked a big shovel together to clean up the ditch and put that dirt behind the wall.

 Sometimes it takes two.

 Great job everyone!

 Jonathan, being the engineer that he is, couldn't just end the wall. He made it very pretty.