Soaked

Well, we have certainly had plenty of rain this summer.  I phrase it that way so that it doesn't appear to be a complaint.  And I really am not complaining but let's just say...the garden plants are probably the only ones happy at this point.  Everything is doing well; I have to pick every day, sometimes twice.  Except for the tomatoes.  Just not enough sunny days for them to ripen much and I am really, really looking forward to some good homegrown maters. 

Stupid me had accidentally planted cantaloupe where I thought I was planting a bunch of pickling cucumbers.  Turns out it was about half and half so I'm still going to get my pickles but also going to have a crap load of cantaloupes.  That's okay though.  I just hope they are good!  The cukes are what you see growing up the trellises there and the 'loupes are growing around the bottom.  Corn is up and making ears and even my onions are doing really well.  I should have a good crop this year.  Everything in the middle of the garden does well.  The edges not so much.  (I think that was most of the problem last year with the onions) I must add a good bit of chicken poo in those areas this winter.

This is one of the Golden Jubilee tomatoes.  I planted all my maters about 3 feet apart this year with a good dose of chicken poo and 4-5 egg shells.  So far they are all very healthy and loaded with fruit.  I was able to pick one of these yesterday but still want to let it ripen a tad more before I cut it.  I guess I picked it more out of extreme paranoia that something might happen to it more than anything.

The blueberries did well this year and are winding down now.  I got a little over 2 quarts in the freezer for the winter and we ate a bunch.  Oh, and I took a big bowl of them to Mama.  Two of the raspberries are winding down a good bit too but the third variety is just getting started and it is the one that makes really large berries and lasts until fall.  I didn't mean to get that many different kinds but it is a happy accident I suppose.

My rhubarb in pots and the one in the cold frame are doing great!  This one I can keep in the shade most all the time and move it around the deck for rain to water it.  The one I had actually planted in the garden died recently and it has not been very hot this year.  In fact, this week has been in the mid to high 70's.  Unheard of coolness for Alabama in July.   So anyway, this makes me wonder if maybe it is richness of soil more than heat that kills the rhubarb.  Because I bought varieties that are supposed to be doable in the south.  See, the soil here and in the coldframe is very richly amended black soil; the garden is more sandy and lean. 

And speaking of rain, ya'll know I told you in one of the last posts that I had missed the annual daylily sale they have one town over because we were in Mobile?  Well, there has been such an abundance of rain that the nursery just has an overwhelming supply of daylilies and they had another 1 day sale!!!  With even better sale prices!  Yay!  I was excited.  You got a free 1 gallon lily just for showing up and they had free ice cream and drinks.

I have wanted one of these near black varieties for a long time and they had this one (Night Wings) marked down to $5 each!  That is a very good price, so I got 3.  I got 2 of the yellow one below.  It's called Big Rex and the blooms are very large.  I planted these alongside the drive but further down, away from the house.  I believe I have filled up the driveway flower bed and am now making another one further down.  I'll show ya'll later.

I also bought a lace cap variety of hydrangea called Lady In Red.  The foliage is supposed to turn red in the fall.  I think I am going to have to start my design and plantings for the back of the house because these hydrangeas need to go there in order to keep the deer off them.  Maybe. 

The nursery also had more drawings for free plants.

I have started several times to post before now but have just felt awful with this bad weather.  Stormy weather for me often brings migraines and aches and I have also been going to my physical therapy, so I've been sore from that too.  I think those people are masochistic.  At any rate, I have felt like hammered hell a lot of the time but have managed to do a few things here and there.  I have quite a bit of pottery going but it's so humid and wet here that I'm having a lot of trouble with it not drying so I can fire it.  Got a dehumidifier running in my studio now.  I have also done a bit more on the mosaic.  I know that all may have looked pretty rough to some of ya'll but it's going to look good I think.  I can see it finished in my head and I forget that not everybody else can or even has any idea what it is supposed to look like.  I mean, I haven't even shown a sketch or anything.

So, here's hoping for some dry weather and high barometric pressure!!  and I'll be back with much more progress hopefully.

Stuck

 Well, I finally have a house post for ya'll!!  I finally got up the gumption to start the fireplace tile and have been steadily working on it for the past week or so, in between pottery, gardening and such.  I am actually a little further along than what you see in this photo.  About 2 more runs of tile and I have started the mosaic that will be in that blank space over to the left.  Yes, all that smashed pottery will be put to good use.  There were a number of reasons that I chose to break this up with a mosaic.  First, I think they are pretty and I wanted to do something different and creative.  Secondly, in placing these tiles out so that they wrapped the corners the way I wanted them to, it was going to make the spacing between them just a fuzz larger than I really wanted.  3/8" was really the max that I could justify with looking right.  By laying the ends the way I wanted and working inward, I could leave a strip in which dimensions didn't matter.  Oh, and I didn't want to cut tiles if I could get away with it.  There is nothing wrong with cutting them but with the area etc. I would have come out with pretty small cuts and just wanted to avoid that.  I wanted to stick with whole pieces for the looks.

 As it is, the spacing didn't quite come out as I imagined, although it's close.  See, natural tiles are...well..natural.  Even cut they may not be exactly the same size or totally square.  I have found differences of up to 1/8" and I really didn't expect that.  Maybe a better quality tile would have been more accurate, I don't know.  I will use a dark grey grout on this so that will also minimize how much you notice the irregular spaces.  For the most part I have been able to use these cool little spacers to keep it all in line but I have had to fudge some here or there.  I made sure to establish at least 2 control lines (1 vertical, 1 horizontal) before I ever started to help keep the tiles laid level and plumb.  Actually, I have 4 lines at this point but it never hurts to keep a check on that.  These spacers, by the way, just pull out when the adhesive is set up and you reuse them indefinitely.  They are also 2-sided; one side is a space just for a slot and the other is a spacer for intersections of 4 corners.  The adhesive also sets fairly quick so I only spread enough to set 4 or 5 tiles (6x6) at a time.  You have about 10 minutes working time, maybe.  That may seem like a lot but when you are adjusting and tweaking it goes pretty fast.  Or it does for me anyway!
You can also see from this photo what I meant about the corners.  I did not want the edge of the tile that turns back to show.  The edge of the face tile shows from the side but that is more attractive, to me, than the other.  Basically, when you are standing in front of the fireplace wall, you will not see any of the edges of the tiles.  There are many ways to do corners though.  You can run some type of edge cap of another material such as wood or steel corner molding, another type of tile etc. etc.

 In this photo you can see a bit more of the unevenness of the spacing but it will be covered up by the fireplace unit.  See, I don't have any problem showing my stuff that doesn't come out exactly right.  Everybody makes mistakes or has things that don't do exactly what they thought they would.  I honestly thought the tiles would be more accurate in size so that was a learning lesson for me.  At any rate, I have been able to control the spacing better in areas that will show more, now that I understand the material more.  Plus, it's a natural stone.  It is just going to have variations.  Don't want variations??  Use a manufactured tile.  I had to cut a few tiles to fit around the gas lines and anchors that hold the unit in place.  This was very simple just using a 4" side grinder with a diamond wheel.  You can use it dry too for such small cuts.  I just had to nip out a notch here and there.  For whole cuts I will use a wet saw for tile.
So, there is the beginnings of that.  I'll have some more on it soon.  Hopefully.  If you would like to see a more in depth or closer look at how I did something please let me know.  I'm not sure how well I explain things so please ask questions if needed or tell me to clarify.

Martha My Dear

Things have been super busy around here this past week and I just haven't had the energy most evenings to post much.  I finally told myself ya'll were probably tired of looking at that last post though so I needed to get something up!  Things are starting to come in from the garden so most mornings are spent harvesting a few things.  Usually it's blueberries, black raspberries, a few strawberries and this morning I added a little broccoli and green onions.  The cabbage is getting close too.
 I'm not getting a tremendous amount of berries but it is enough to go with my yogurt every morning and to make an occasional batch of muffins.
 

  I also spent 2 days getting the weeding under control as it had gotten just a little ahead of us.  I am now in the process of putting down weed barrier and lots of mulching so we don't have to deal with that again.

 

The raspberries improve every year so even though I'm not putting up pounds of them I am pleased with their progress.  I get a big handful every day and the red ones have not even started turning yet.  What I'm harvesting now is black raspberries.

I also dug one half of the garlic crop, or all the Inchellium Red.  I left the Red Toch to see if it would grow a bit more.  This batch looks really good with some pretty sizable heads.  It's all drying now and soon I will have to finally learn how to braid that stuff!

We also had a new batch of bitties come in!  We have had to do a major overhaul of our flock.  We culled out the 5 Rhode Island Reds we bought from that guy across town.  I will never, EVER buy hens from somebody I don't know personally and well.  They were a very bad choice but I guess it's a learning experience.  Even though we kept them separate from the girls for a while I could not see that there was anything wrong with them.  Turns out they gave our girls lice and possibly bronchitis.  I'm still not sure if their eggs problems are due to that or a calcium problem.  We had a time getting rid of the lice but we did and now they look so much better.  I'm sure they feel better too.  Let me tell you; washing 10 upset hens in a tub is not something I ever want to do again.
I'm beginning to think their egg difficulties may have been our fault though and giving them too much scratch.  I don't know; it;s so hard to tell unless you have some tests run I guess.  The soft eggs and dropping eggs in the night has improved but we still get one occasionally.  The worst part is another hen died though.  Sweet little Martha, the Buff below, died Tuesday.  I think it was an issue with egg binding and this may have been what killed Emily, way back.  Both acted the same.  Very sudden not feeling well, not wanting to walk around.  They both sat on the nest for some time but never laid an egg.  I tried what I could with Martha, even going to far as to examine her for a stuck egg but couldn't feel anything.  I soaked her in a warm bath etc.  Nothing helped.  Then I noticed she had some discharge that looked like egg remains so it may have busted inside her.  I don't know really.  But she died that same day.

So, in reading I found out too much scratch, which contains a lot of phosphorous, can deplete a hen of calcium and thus cause such problems.  So, now they only get scratch as an occasional treat with 90% of their diet being layer mix and what they forage outside.  We do give them fruit and such too.
So, I had ordered a mix of female bitties to replace the ones we've lost and get a better strain of hens going here.  I got mostly Speckled Sussex, a few Partridge Rocks, New Hampshires and a few Brown Leghorns.  We also decided to let Prissy hatch a few eggs since she is so determined to stay broody.  We got a few eggs from Rurality and stuck under her.  Hopefully she will get to be a mom.  Oh, we gave Runt, our roo, away a few weeks ago.  He seemed to be getting too aggressive with the hens and had just terrorized a couple of them to the point they would hide in the coop house or woods to stay away from him.
So, that is just part of what has been going on.  I'll be back soon maybe with more.
Oh, the new bitties are up at the house, away from the regular flock and have been vaccinated for several issues.  They will be vaccinated again for bronchitis (it's done twice) before they go down to the chicken complex.

That Smell

With the recent painting renewal it also became time to deal with an issue that, over the past couple of years, has become a serious problem.  Carpenter bees have been eating select parts of my house, or trying to anyway.  Now really, they were only going after the few pieces of wood on the house that are pressure treated.  I don't understand that at all.  You would think they would avoid the chemically treated wood and go for the natural stuff but I guess these bees aren't interested in the 'green' movement.  When they first started coming around I didn't do much because it really hurts my soul to kill these creatures and they were just chewing on some boards that are probably going to be replaced anyway when I put up the real porch columns.  However, one thing I learned is that the offspring of these little piggies return each spring, somehow, to exactly the spot where they were hatched, even using the same holes sometimes.  Well, after enough generations these holes fill up faster and it's time for expansion!  Time to move to the suburbs!  When I noticed they were now crawling up under my roofing trim and flashing to get to the tops of my rafters, I said 'No more'.  I know you are a great pollinator.  I know you are a vital part of the ecosystem.  But I cannot let you eat my house.  I really, really, really hated it but we did kill a number of them to get them out of the rafters.  I do not want to continue such a thing though; neither the killing or the eating, so I did a little Google-fu and found this stuff.

It is an all- natural carpenter bee repellent that you mix in paint or just water and apply to whatever you don't want them to eat.  I was a little skeptical but willing to try.  It is also supposed to be time released so it lasts for several years.  Today I mixed it in the paint that I use on the rafters and some other trim and got to work.  Let me first just say that the odor is.....STRONG.  I would use caution if you have a bad problem with strong odors.  Secondly, nothing came near me the whole day I was painting.  No bees, skeeters, bugs, Jack, gnats, nada.  Even the dreaded deer fly stayed away if I had that bucket near me.  One dirt dobber buzzed around my head a couple of times and then flew off screaming.  Finally, towards the end of the day a lone carpenter bee appeared after I had put the paint up to do some caulking.  I got the paint back out and eased over to the rafters he was scrutinizing.  I gently brushed on some paint in his general direction.  He eased on down the other way about 8 feet.  I followed.  Little more paint near him.  He quickly buzzed off and went up to check out the eaves.  I followed.  A few more slaps of paint and he said the heck with it, I'm leaving.  Now, I don't know that it was the smell but whenever I came near him with that paint he left and I was being real quiet about it to try not to spook him.

It says that it will also repel other bugs; ants, spiders and such so I think I'll mix some in some water and spray my foundation and bottom run of siding.  I don't have any problem with bugs coming in the house now but it never hurts to do a little preventative work.  I wonder if it would repel chickens??

Oh, one note: I realize the bees are not actually ingesting my house.  They are chewing it up and spitting it out.  Same thing.  Same problem.

All Things New

 In keeping with the new year I've been experimenting with some new designs and new glazes.  I'm not sure what it is but lately I've felt a very renewed sense of creativity and action.  Whatever it is, let's hope it continues!  I think part of it is that we have been making some progress on the homestead.  Things are starting to come together in that realm and I really feel that this is the life I am meant to have.  No, things are not all roses and daisies (I'll explain later) but I feel good about our food production, my art production and just things in general.  We are even working towards adding active solar elements to the house.  More about this later too.

This is a "new" glaze that I really like (the inside color, not the dark rim).  Actually, it is partially a mistake.  See, I have a standard oatmeal colored glaze that I use quite a bit and so I ran out recently.  Well, there are literally hundreds of glazes out there with the name Oatmeal.  I had 2 written down in my books and, you guessed it, I mixed the wrong one.  The recipes look very similar but produce a noticeably different glaze.  And the bad thing is that the one I made this time is not suitable for dinnerware.  Well, I had 5 gallons of it now and had to do something.  I got to thinking and knew that I also had about 3 gallons of a slate blue that I had decided to retire.  It wasn't very popular anymore and I had tired of it.  So...what if I mixed them?  I did (reserving a little of each glaze separately) and it came out wonderful!  Plus, the elements of the slate glaze brought the finish of the new glaze up to where it would be suitable for food use.  I am going to try to compare the two recipes and see if I can combine the formulas to make this glaze now, instead of always making 2 glazes and mixing them.  I really hope I am successful.  So, that was a good save and nothing was wasted.  But now, I need a name for it!  It sorta, kinda, vaguely resembles an ash glaze so I had just thought about Blue Ash.  That's kinda boring.  The stores where I sell my work likes for me to name the glazes fancy stuff, like Paprika and Oatstraw.  You know how they are nowadays about colors.  But hey, as much as this lady sells, I don't care if she names them Chickenshit.  So, any ideas?

Speaking of pottery and stuff, it was brought to my attention that the email address I have had on my pottery page has been dead for some time and I had forgotten!  So, if you tried to email me at that old Hotmail address, I didn't get it!  I closed that account several, several weeks ago and just forgot to change it there.  Please forgive me if you've been trying to get a hold of me there.  I did send out an email change notice to those of you I correspond with and hope everybody got that.  But if not, my email is now ann.beaird@gmail.com.  It is also listed under the About Me header.  I hope no one has been emailing me and think I've been ignoring you.

I will also continue updating the cupcake situation in the posts here.  As of today, Rurality is out!  I may have some company later on and I will stuff a few cupcakes down them to try to speed things up!

*Update!!!  Allen came by and scarfed down some more cupcakes!  This is really getting interesting!  OK, those eliminated this time are...


Peg on Vancouver Island, Lisa in Bammer, Beatrice, Tammy (Grendal fan) and Dan.  Sorry guys.  But this is kinda fun!  OK, (smack, smack) and FloridaCracker.

Hard Bargain

Well, I had good intentions (but you know what they say about that) for my posting while I was away but ran into a couple of issues. First, the place where I'm staying has horrible Internet connection. I'm using a wireless connection but can only sometimes get a strong enough signal to stay online more than a few minutes. I inquired about the hotel's connection but they want $10 a week for it and I said screw that. I would get an excellent signal at work but do not have time to even log on, much less write anything and I'm not about to hang around after work to blog. Sorry folks. Don't mean I don't care about you! But that shower, however crappy it is, is calling to me mightily by quitting time. Hopefully, I can figure out a solution to this dilemma but in the mean time if I am slow answering emails or replying to comments, that is why. Also, and just as significantly, this first week kicked my ass, to be honest and I really didn't have the energy to do much writing. We worked overtime everyday except Friday and by the time I got back to my room, cleaned up and got something to eat, I was about ready to pass out. My crew has been working on hanging brick angle and so must work out of man lifts up to 80 or so feet in the air. Of course, we must wear safety harnesses that add about 6-7 lbs. to what you're already carrying and in the blazing sun with hardhats on. We've been going in at 6:00 a.m. to get some coolness but that makes for some early nights. At least for me. I can't stay up all night like I used to could. Fortunately, as far as the stress of the work, I do see a light at the end of the tunnel. The first part of the week was rough, to say the least, but by Thursday I was feeling like I was starting to get acclimated to it all again and Friday was almost enjoyable. Maybe that was partially due to the fact I knew we were leaving at 2:30 but I felt not quite so wore out. It was still about 100 degrees that day and I burnt the living crap out of myself cutting some steel but it wasn't a bad day. (The slag spewed back on me because I was cutting against concrete and it basically showered me completely in molten steel.) That statement may help you understand just how bad Monday through Wednesday was.
When I was pondering what to blog about I was thinking about just how hard it is to describe what we go through on these jobs to someone who has never experienced it. I mean, I picked metal BB's (basically) out of my flesh and yes, it hit in some very sensitive areas for a woman, but it was still a fairly enjoyable day, comparatively. Not to sound overly dramatic but it occurred to me; nothing I have ever done while building my house has ever been as hard as what I do at work. And my house includes quite a bit of structural steel and concrete. I admit, the spring box was close and some days at work are super easy but it is just a whole 'nother world there. I think that is part of the reason I get so pissed off when I hear people speak disparagingly of construction workers or have some office slackers make snide remarks to us. It kills me that society has so much respect for doctors and professors etc. but the people that build the structures for these esteemed members of society to work in are treated like so much trash, for the most part.
Well, that's enough ranting for now! Thankfully they are letting us have a 3-day weekend for the holiday so I will probably have some time to post again before I go back. I will try to write about something other than work also!

Oh, I forgot to mention, the photo is the view from the front of the job but you can only see one of the two tower cranes. Directly beneath the crane is some of the forms they use for pouring the floors. These are some interesting contraptions as they can be jacked up or down and shoved out over the edge to extend the floor they are forming. After the floor is poured, these forms are dropped down and pulled out by the crane to be replaced with shoring. The shoring is the 4x4 posts and scaffolding you see to the far left. There will be a forest of these posts amongst the floors. These must be left in place for a few weeks until the concrete samples taken from these pours break at the prescribed strength.
And...if you're wondering why I wasn't wearing some type of protection when I got burned...well, that's a good question. I just didn't take the time to get down from the lift and go get my sleeves. I only needed to wallow this hole in the steel out about an 1/8th of an inch and knew it wouldn't take a minute. So, in an effort to save time I did it bare armed. I eventually had to burn a few more, so I did retrieve my leathers when I went down to doctor myself. And yes, Daddy Rabbit chewed my ass when he found out that I had injured myself, so now I'm sore on both ends. Ha!

Almost Easy

I believe we have topped out. We ran out of concrete before we filled absolutely every cell in the blocks but we are real close and will only take a few more bags. I am very pleased with the state of the spring and water system now. I think it all went well and turned out great; despite being extremely hard, physically, to do. I feel, and I think Jack would agree, that I have been beaten with a 2 x 4.

I was not pleased with how that shelf came out over the rock ledge so we bought 2 more bags of the quick setting concrete and I went back down to shore it up. Basically, I just mixed it up down in the hole and jammed it in the cavities while Jack kept the water pumped down. You can see one of the main inlets right in front of my right hand.

This set up very quickly and I was pleased with the result. By doing this I also confirmed that the hole is also big enough to actually do some work down there. I mean, it's not terribly comfortable, but it is workable.

I am still astounded at how fast the water cleared up and how clear it is now. The only murkiness is from the concrete residue and when this clears I suspect the water will be almost crystal clear.

This is standing at the spring looking up towards the pump house. Of course you know, all could not go well. As sure as Murphy's Law exists, no good deed goes unpunished and if everything is coming your way you must be in the wrong lane, we did have some problems. After the spring was done and we were trying to clean up, we hooked everything back up in order to use the water to clean up. In my exhaustion I forgot to reopen the valve above the spring. I have a very good pump and it tried very hard to do it's job and in doing so cracked the connections both going in and coming out of it's housing. It didn't take long for me to realize what I had done but by then water was running everywhere out of the pump. So, Jack spent most of the day finding parts to fix those connections. Finally, about 5 p.m. today he finished the connections and we had water again. Hopefully,it will go a looooong time now with no problems. Anybody that has been following this blog for sometime knows I have had problems with those connections before, so Jack used some different type this time and redid the whole setup. It certainly looks better.

This is my cute little pump house during the renovation. I still need to put siding on this thing.


An inside shot of the pressure tank and pump. This is a Gould pump and I would highly recommend these things. This one has been through pump hell and still going strong. Hopefully, it's life will be much easier now.


This is looking from the pump house, up through the woods to the house. The spring is about 200 feet from the house and at a lower elevation than the house. The pump pulls the water up a hill to the pressure tank and then the water is pushed further up the hill and over the crest, where it beings to fall back down at about 70 feet towards the house.

So, while Jack was finding parts I was getting my own stuff together. My company worked out their crap and now I am back on again for the out of town job. I told them I was not leaving until I got this put back together though. They threw the wrench in the works so they can wait on me now. Everything seems to be going well though and if the pump does not blow up overnight it looks like I'll be heading out sometime tomorrow. I am exhausted and grumpy but maybe I can make it through the rest of the week. It should be an interesting time anyway. I'll catch up with ya'll when I can!

Back To Scratch

I didn't realize how long it has been since I last posted! This gorgeous weather we've been having has had me distracted. I've been spending large amounts of time in the garden or just on general outside projects. We often times don't really have a spring to speak of; it just goes from winter to HOT, so these actual spring temps are great.
Yesterday was quite windy and cool though, after a stormy, rainy night, so I decided to go back to the ol' pantry projects. I had received the sanding discs I ordered but was waiting for a not sunny day to come inside and use them. When I first saw the discs I thought, this ain't going to work. If you held them just right in the sun you could see just the vaguest sparkle of diamonds; it didn't seem near enough to grind concrete. But, those are some powerful little crystals. I only went up to 400 grit (the pack went to 2,000) but it produced a very nice, smooth surface. The 50 grit knocked down the rough areas and then I just worked my way up. I suppose if you used the entire spectrum of grits you could produce a virtual mirror finish.

I know these are not really good shots of the surface, and the sealer is not on yet either, so it doesn't really show how polished it is but I was quite pleased and actually surprised that they did as well as they did. I was afraid nothing was going to fix that surface but it even took down the uneven areas in addition to polishing. It was a major pain in that you MUST use the pads wet, so you have to keep water standing on the surface. This keeps the dust down but throws a slurry of fine concrete over everything. You use the pads with a stiff backing pad and screws onto a 4" side grinder. I did cover the cabinets with plastic sheeting but it was a freaking mess. I would only recommend this remedy if there is no other choice. I spent all afternoon cleaning the pantry and kitchen area but it did fix the counter top. It is nowhere near perfect but it is acceptable now, even for me and ya'll know I can be a bit picky. Once I have the concrete back splashes installed I believe it will look pretty good.

After cleaning everything I installed yet another shelving unit above this window. I am also going to install a few hooks to the underside of this shelf to hang drying herbs and such.
Now, to install the flooring. I am very excited about that. The back splashes will be poured outside and then just set in place so there will not be any more messes in here and not affect the floor.

I have also been working on the garden gates. The other side is up and installed. I now just have to set the hinges and hang this side; which I am about to do today. I am real happy with the way these gates have turned out. Completed pictures soon! I wanted to show my method for plumbing this post though. I know it's not rocket science but some people have never done it before. I pulled a string line down the fence to line this post up by and painted my marks for both side on the ground. With the other side of the gate up I simply measured from the inside edge of the hanging leaf to the inside edge of the post to make sure I had enough space for the next leaf. Always measure at the bottom of the post and then plumb up. As you plumb you will have to keep checking the bottom and adjust a little, as plumbing will move the whole post a little bit. Two kickers, which you go ahead and nail on before you start plumbing, hold the top both ways. This is a very easy and simple method.

Now, if you can ever get your hands on some of these things, called turnbuckles, you will bless my name every time you use them. Bless in a good way, that is! These things make setting posts or plumbing walls a snap. You just get the post halfway plumb and then nail on the turnbuckle. Then, turning the threaded part there, push or pull the post into alignment. They are about 3 feet long but made to nail onto a 2x4 of whatever length you want. Oh, and they have that hole through they foot to stake them to the ground but you can also turn them the other way, which the turnbuckle itself nailed to the top of the post. We usually use them that way on walls.

Now, back to work!!!

Easier Said Than Done

This countertop is being a butt, to say the least. Yes, I did screw it up with a bad initial finishing job, so I can't really say much! Unlike many bloggers that only show their successes, I will show you when I bomb something and I have no problem admitting mistakes or screw-ups. I believe I mentioned earlier that the surface did not come out well, but I don't believe I posted any pics of it. Basically, what happened is that the surface cement, after it had cured, was becoming powdery and flaking up, exposing the sand and aggregate below. I am a bit confused on this one though. I know the mix was a little wet when I first poured but I've seen mud poured almost like soup and still get a hard finish on it. Also, after this countertop, I poured the little slab in the basement, and just to be safe, I mixed that slab rather dry using the same mix. It is doing the same thing. Now, initially I thought the mix was too wet and this water sat on the surface too long, causing the surface to weaken. But this really doesn't make sense. I've seen concrete slabs totally submerged by sudden rain, with the water standing on the slabs for hours, and they still finish fine. Now, maybe I'm just that poor a finisher, but I have finished many yards of concrete with no problems. I don't know if the mix was old or what. It came from a place that stores theirs outside and they may not move much of it, meaning it will sit there for a while, but the bags appeared fine when I bought them. No holes, no water stains.
Now, the photo above was taken AFTER I had applied a topping coat to correct the problem. Tearing a slab out is a major pain and I really don't want to do that. Besides, the rest of the countertop, below, seems fine. I applied one coat of topping mix (which is basically portland and sand with bonding agents) very thinly, and it adhered well, but it made a very rough surface. So, I applied another, thicker coat, using additional bonding agent, and troweled a smoother finish on it. Now, it is nowhere near smooth enough but it is better than what was there. I have ordered a pack of diamond sanding/ polishing pads to put the final finish on with. I think most countertop contractors finish their product this way anyway, rather than rely totally on a troweled finish. So, we will see. It's an experiment anyway. Who knows? it might come out with a much more beautiful surface this way.

After I finished with the countertop and was letting that cure, I decided to start the gate for the garden. The weather has been beautiful the past couple of days and promises to stay that way for about a week. I couldn't resist getting out my welding gear. I've been meaning to build this gate for some time and my desire to have a truly fruitful (no pun intended) garden this year means I've got to to get the fence and gate up to par to keep the deer and 'coons and rabbits out. I am truly embarrassed to show you all what I use for a gate now. Plus, it's a pain to go in and out of. This new gate is going to be awesome, if I must say so myself! I am building two, 3 foot wide panels, so you can open one side or both to get larger things, like a lawn tractor, through. It's cool! I can't wait to be finished. Oh, and I am building it solely from scrap metal that I have laying around here. I am not going to purchase anything, except maybe the hinges, if I can't make those.