Dead Beat Club

Well, I kinda hate the direction the blog has gone in.  I know it's boring and crappy but I just don't have a lot of time to do many projects around the house so any kind of how-to posts are on the back burner.  I do plan to plant a garden for fall but that's probably going to be sporadic.  I know many of you are not terribly interested in commercial construction, so I'm trying to limit the number of posts on that subject.  So, I'm not sure what to write about and my Internet connection here is still unreliable so when I do feel like writing I sometimes can't get on.
So..........anybody have any ideas or suggestions?  I am still reading your blogs when I have time and trying to leave a few comments.  Work has become infinitely easier lately so it's not near as rough as when I first came down.  I guess I've gotten used to the workload again and welding is easier on me than the other work I was doing.  So, tell me what you think if you have any ideas.  I don't know.  I'm kinda bummed.  It's lonely working out of town and boring when you're not at work.

Chicken Run!!

I'm not sure how clear this video is going to be but maybe ya'll can make sense of it.  I thought it was just hilarious how rabid these chooks are to get out in the afternoons.  They live for their time out in the yard.  So far we have had good luck with letting them out with no fatalities.

 Speaking of no fatalities though; these boys will end that streak soon.  They have gotten a little too big for their britches lately and are confined to fatten up just a little more.  I do not believe I will ever have Leghorns again.  They are very aggressive towards the other chickens.

The Cornish Cross chicks are doing well now.  We did have 3 to die and it was a bit mysterious.  No leg problems, no wheezing, discharge, pasty butt or anything else that might indicate disease or anything.  However, Jack did notice that their feed had some larger chunks it in that maybe they were having trouble with so he started sifting their food and we've had no deaths since.  We are buying a locally ground natural, non-medicated feed but apparently they also do rabbit food etc. because the larger chunks looked kinda like rabbit pellets (food, not poo).  Maybe they don't clean their machines well between batches.  We don't know if that was the culprit but they re all doing well now and are surprisingly active.

This one kept staring at me rather pointedly.  Perhaps he suspects his fate.  I hope not.

They have even begun flying around their cage a little.  Well, enough to hop up on the rat sills anyway!  We have found all the young chicks like to sit up there for some reason.  Their little legs are significantly thicker than regular little chicks and we have only noticed one that might be having a little trouble walking.  After we had those 3 die I was beginning to feel like getting these were a mistake but now they seem to be developing normally, just a bit faster than other chicks.  We'll see.  I'm still a bit skeptical and we are keeping a close eye on how they get around and seem to be getting along.  No matter how efficient they are at becoming dinner I still don't want to be raising meat blobs.  However, as of now, they seem just like any other chicks as far as activity and curiosity.  They jump and fly and scratch.  Best they can anyway.

I hope to also get a little bit of the fall garden planted today but I may not.  I have a bit of throwing to do to fulfill some pottery orders so that comes first right now.

Rock Around The Clock

 The photos are just some miscellaneous ones I had that are somewhat related to what I wanted to write about tonight.  The area shown is where my most recent project has been going on.  I know that the world of commercial construction is very far removed from the way most people work so I thought I'd just give ya'll a view of my day.  It starts out early enough at about 4:30 a.m.  I get up in time to have a good, hot cup of tea and really wake up.  I hate to be rushed into my day.  I make my lunch and breakfast and am on my way to work by 5:30.  One good thing here is that I am only about 15 minutes from work at the most, so I make it there by about 5:45-50.  We start work at 6:00 sharp so everybody gets there earlier in order to get their stuff in order and several of us usually sit and eat our breakfast also.  We also use the time to begin our daily aggravation and joking on each other.
At 6:00 we have our safety meeting.  It used to be you only had those once a week but it has become common to have them every day now, first thing.  That lasts about 5-10 minutes and then everybody goes to their assigned job places to shake tools out and get to work.  I have been hanging steel in this stairway that you see in the above photo.  First, I welded on those short stubs you see on the right, next to the concrete.  There are steel plates embedded in the slab that you can't see.  This is 7 floors with embeds at each floor.  Now, my welding leads only reach about 3 floors, so I have to pull the leads up or down the stairwell to reach the next section.  When i run out of leads I pull everything back to the welding machine, roll it up, take the machine over to the buck hoist (if it's running) and take it up or down to the level where i can reach the rest.  Now, sometimes I can just put it on the 3rd or 4th floor and just have to move the leads but sometimes I have to take it all the way up or down for other projects.  Inevitably, I end up moving the machine at least once a day and pulling those leads all over the place.  I know many people have commented on the "condition" of my biceps and shoulders.  Well, now you know.  They are in the shape they are from 18 years of moving, pulling, carrying, shoving or rolling up leads that weigh 30-40 lbs. each.  If I carry them both at once to save time it is a fair load.  And I'm also doing this going up and down any number of stairs.  So, I just work on this type stuff; welding, carrying, moving, layout etc. until 9:00 a.m.  Then we get a 15 minute break if our work allows it.  if you have to work through break you can usually make it up later.  I know 15 minutes doesn't seem like much but it does help a lot.  we get a snack and something to drink, joke around and aggravate each other some more and then go back to work.  Now, today, work involved flying steel into place with the crane as I have all the other stuff in place.  The other day we were on the inside and the crane flew the steel over to us.  I have help doing this.  We maneuver the pieces into place and as the crane holds them, i tack weld them well enough that we can cut him loose and he'll go pick another.  After we get all the pieces hung, I'll come back by myself and hard weld everything according to the drawings.



When I'm welding near the edge I wear a harness, in addition to the welding jacket, etc, and tie off to these clever devices.  They pour them into the tops of each column and are left in place until all outer work is over.  They are very handy.  There is a handrail there, as you can see, but I often have to stand on a ladder to reach what I'm welding and if you do that you must be tied off.
So, we just keep working until 12:00 noon.  Then we get a 30 minute lunch.  It's enough time to rest up but not long enough that you don't want to go back to work.  You don't loose your momentum, so to speak.  Today we were hanging steel with the crane but we had to be up on the outside of the building in a lift in order to maneuver it correctly.  There were 2 of us in the basket and one guy inside to hand me the leads etc. and help hold.  This type work is a little scarier because the operator is flying the steel right over us and then lowers it down to us.  We use a special clamp of the steel called a "plate dog".  It basically bites the steel as long as there is pressure or weight on it and releases when the tension eases and the rigger flips a safety latch.  You have to use these when straps would get caught behind the steel once it was set.  It does cross your mind when that steel is over you that if that plate dog fails you will probably die or be severely injured.
So, normally we would roll up at 2:30 but we are working 10 hours a day so we keep going until 4:30.  We are allowed to go get a Coke or something around 2;30 or 3:00 and of course, we can get water or take a bathroom break any time work allows.  Sometime you have to plan these things if you are working in the air or on a lift.  So, same ol' work until about 4:15 and then it's time to get tools up.  we usually have quite a bit of stuff out so it takes a while to get everything rolled up and locked up in our tool boxes.  Then we go sign out and leave at 4:30.  You do not leave before then even if you have your stuff up.
I know this sounds like a rough day for most people, and it is hard, but we have fun.  We joke around when we can and tease each other.  Sometimes there are down times waiting for one of the cranes or such and we can rest them.  It does take some getting used to though and many people don't like the work.  I don't know, we all have a good camaraderie and help each other as much as we tease each other too.  I am fortunate to work with a great bunch of guys.

Late Summer Fair

After my last post I have been anxious to put this one up so that I could show you all that I can relax and did have an enjoyable and fun weekend to counteract the long work week.  I drive home on Friday evenings after work, so that night is usually just spent laying around, but Saturday we got up and went into Birmingham so I could deliver a little pottery to one of my stores and to do some other general errands.  We returned that afternoon in time for the county fair though!  They had a lot more exhibits and such this year I believe.  I thought this poultry pair was beautiful.  I think they said the breed was Coronation Sussex but I could be mistaken.

This feller was so cute but looked like he would bite your hand clean off if you gave him the chance.  Maybe that's just the way he always looks.  I think some people think I have that same look.

 No way in Hell.

Of course there is always something magical about the carousel horses.  I couldn't quite capture the image I had in mind but you get the idea.

And we ate all sorts of crap we probably shouldn't have but it was good and fun.  I always have to get a caramel apple and nachos!

I was trying to get kinda artsy-fartsy with some of these pics and it only succeeded to a small degree.  I'm not much on these kind of rides but enjoy some of the games and all the exhibits.  Fred won several ribbons for his various art and craft work, as usual, and Rurality won a ribbon for one her plant displays along with another friend of ours.

I had thought about entering something but just didn't have time with work and all.  The weather was gorgeous over the weekend and Sunday was spent just relaxing.  Well, that and washing my work clothes.

Today we got rained out at work so I had a little time to relax down here.  I picked up a cold unfortunately, so part of the day was spent napping but after lunch I felt a bit improved and went out for a walk about.  Visited an antique store down the road and the book store.  I found a great old glass storage jar at the antique place for my pantry collection and it was on sale!  So,that's about as exciting as free time gets when you're out of town!  Ha!  At least for me.  Should be back to work tomorrow though as the rain moves out. As they say, 'cain't make no money sittin' at home' and I need to make all I can to make this worthwhile.
I'll try to be back a little quicker next post.  I hope everybody is enjoying this fall weather and, if you're in Texas, some rain!!  If not, maybe you will be soon.

Tired Feet

Well, I had intended on posting a bit more but I guess I haven't entirely gotten used to this amount of construction work yet.  Ten hours a day, everyday, is a little wearying.  And, I guess, the abrupt and total change in lifestyle has been mentally tiring.  I believe this is about as opposite as the way I was living as you can get.  I'm having to stay in a small, cramped, heavily occupied, cheap hotel.  It's right next to the interstate; mostly asphalt around here.  The peace and tranquility of my valley is a long way away.  I'm doing the best I can I guess but it gets me down.  

I do enjoy working with my fellas though.  That's the one bright spot but I don't see a lot of them for most of the day actually.  Welders tend to work alone most of the time except when prep work is being done.  Well, didn't mean to write a downer post but I'm very tired and I want to go home.  We will get off at 2:30 tomorrow however and I'll be blazing a trail to my house shortly thereafter.  I'll try to have a better post from home.

Cracker Box Palace

Well, today has just been a real Monday all around; very frustrating.  I was having so much trouble with Blogger I wasn't sure I was going to get anything posted or not.  But I persisted.  I trudged on for you, my dear readers!  Ha!  I know this blog has really had ya'll on the edge of your seats lately, ya know?
Anyway, these I-beams and tube steel are what I've been working on lately.  How did I get those heavy pieces of steel up there, you ask??  Well, us construction workers are not as dumb as people think!  We have levitation abilities!  No, not really; not anything that exciting.  There was simply decking over the openings when I was working there.  They wrecked the decking today to make the area ready for the elevator men.

 Just thought I'd give ya'll a few different views of the job site.  So far, they have made just over 200 concrete pours on this job.  I have no idea of the yardage.

This is (will be) the courtyard area.  Right now it's a staging area.  If you enlarge the area you should be able to see a lot of the sorted rebar and some finished column reinforcement waiting to be set.
I know sometimes I probably sound like a broken record talking about being safe with projects and stuff and maybe even kind of an alarmist type but this is what I know.  This you see is serious.  We are not playing around and this, in this photo, is one reason why it irks the hell out of me to see these jackleg bloggers giving people dishonest views of concrete and building.  Now, I know ya'll aren't building anything like this.  I know that pouring a patio slab or some other similar DIY project is rarely ever going to end in any serious injury but you have to be careful.  Accidents do happen.  And any structural concrete needs steel reinforcement.
 

I was trying to get both cranes in the shot but it's kinda hard when you are up close.  My stamina is improving and I've been working in the shade the past few days with this welding, so that has helped.  It's not near as hot as it was but even a cool day gets warm if you are welding in the open.  That comes later!  Ugh!
I tell ya, I sure didn't want to come back last night.  I hated to leave home but I keep telling myself it will be good.  I will be able to finish the house and it will look so good and be even more enjoyable to live there.  Well, bedtime comes early these days!  See ya'll!

Come-On-A-My House

 I was afeared I was goin' to have to work Saturday but I made good enough progress on my project that the boss said I could come home, so, after a 9 hour day Friday, I hopped in Little Blue and took off for the house!  It has been a beautiful weekend, weather wise, and is noticeably cooler up here than where I'm working.  The fall feeling is definitely in the air here.  Jack had picked the last big watermelon and had it waiting on me.  I had one other very large one and a couple about half this size.  The first one was pretty darn good; very sweet despite the fact the flesh was not as dark as I thought Black Diamonds were supposed to be.

 This second melon weighed in at 38 pounds; the first was around 32 I think.  However, this one did not taste good.  It was mushy and basically a disappointment. 

 So, we pitched it off the deck to the chickens, making sure not to squash any of them!  They LOVE watermelon.  Although, they did not attack this one in their normal voracious frenzy.  They had already stuffed themselves with a smaller melon and had been eating bugs all day.  Jack had let them out a few hours earlier than normal since we were going to be here all day and all.

 And the new babies came in!!!  They arrived Thursday morning early and Jack picked them up at the post office.  They are sooo cute!  But hopefully they will grow quickly into big, plump, non-cute, tasty birds.  They are quite active, scurrying around their cage all day.

 They do take naps as you can see by that one passed out in the corner.  Since we ordered from McMurray Hatchery they always send you one extra, in case of a mortality I guess, and one free, exotic chick.  You don't know what it is though, until it grows up.  This one is very cute.

 They are all doing well so far and began gobbling food just as soon as Jack put them in the cage.  These are the Cornish Rocks and I am anxious to see how they do.  We found a local feed supply that grinds their own formula of a non-mediated starter feed.  It's not organic, unfortunately, but it's the best we can find right now without paying a fortune for feed.  Maybe later I can come up with a more organic formula.  McMurray lets you opt out of any vaccinations also, so I did not have that done.  Jack scrubbed their cage within the coop house good and sterilized it before they arrived, so hopefully they will stay healthy.
Well, time to get some stuff done around here before I have to head back this evening.

Weathered

Sorry, no photos today.  Didn't really have a chance to take anything.  If you've been listening to the weather any you may have heard we've had a bit of a rough couple of days down here.  It's been kinda typical Alabama  weather though.  Friday we were sweating our butts off in 100 degree heat and 4 days later everybody had jackets and sweaters on.  It was especially chilly on the upper floors of the building since they are all still open.  Like the old local saying goes, "welcome to Alabama, bring your entire wardrobe."

We kept busy today inside the building trying to satisfy the seemingly never ending need for handrails.  I believe you could frame a good size house from the lumber we have used just for that.  Perhaps I will get to actually weld soon.  One load of steel did come in last week.
As I gazed over the job site today from many stories up and watched the light rain falling, creating a cold mist that enveloped the workers and work, I realized that I really have reached the time when this is not work that I wish to do anymore.  Half the year it is scorching hot and dry.  Enormous dust devils race us across the open jobs sites flinging grit and stones at us.  The other half, it is bitterly cold and wet.  Southern winter is not like other winters.  The dampness cuts all the way through you with a sharp chill.  The weight of the clothes we wear can only be equaled by the inevitable weight of red clay accumulating on our boots as we slog through the day.
Perhaps I have finally proven everything I needed to prove to myself.  Perhaps I'm just getting lazy.  Whatever the reason, I think I have come to accept this work is no longer for me.  But, I will finish this job and I will be grateful for the money I make to complete what I really want to work on.

The Follow Through

I don't think I ever showed ya'll the completely finished pantry!  This is pretty much it completed.  I do have a little touch up on the paint and a tad of shoe mould to run but it's pretty much done.  I was pleased with the final product.  You can see on the top shelf some of the stuff I canned this year.  Hopefully I will add a few more pints of things to this still.  I have about 12-14 half pints of jams, 4 or 5 pints of salsa, a couple of pints of pickles and about 2 dozen pints of pickled okra.  I know that's not a lot but it's better than I did last year.  I hope to can a few more tomatoes at least, as my Amish Paste are still coming in.  I have also harvested and dried a lot of herbs, which are in the glass jars on the countertop.  I also put up shelves over the window and door to hold canning supplies and extra jars, etc.

Directly opposite that wall is this wall with the electrical panel.  Code requires your panel to have at least 3 feet of clear space in front of it so we simply put it by the cased opening of the pantry so it would naturally stay clear.  We had room to set the little wall for it out slightly in order to make little storage cubby holes there too.  It's just right for a small broom closet type thing and to hide stuff like toilet paper and such but still be easy to get to.

 I put up a few extras like this bulletin board to record stuff I run out of and all.  The shelf above the door also holds table linens and such.

This is the hardware I chose.  I like the very streamlined and contemporary look.  I know a lot of people think homes in the country should look, well, country but that is just not my cup of tea.  All of the fixtures, appliances, switch plates, hardware and the like are brushed stainless in my house.  It's a very clean, minimalist look to me.  I think it goes well with the maple woodwork and cabinets too.

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!

Tough

Alright folks, just a quick post to let everybody know I'm on the job and still alive. It's been a little rough so far, to be honest. It's been hovering right around 100 degrees everyday and it does take a little time to get re acclimated to 10 hours a day in that.

I haven't had much time to take photos and really can't publish much anyway in that respect but I did think this one view gives you a pretty good idea of the size of the job. Sorta. If you view the courtyard in the center it seems much bigger. This is probably the biggest job I've ever been on and it's going to be tough. I've got a LOT of steel to weld up.

Anyway, lots of my long-time buddies are here and they are always a hoot. If it weren't for them and Daddy Rabbit I don't think I would try to come back. So, I'll try to post again soon.

Ready Or Not

I woke up a little earlier than usual this morning, so I took my mug of morning tea out onto the deck to enjoy the coolness of the air and the quality of light that is only seen at that time of day. More than that, I wanted to enjoy the few mornings I have left before I leave. Soon the time to sit and sip hot tea or maybe even sleep at little later will be gone. No morning walks with Chigger or to feed the chickens or putter in the garden. I have to admit, this last year of life has spoiled me something awful. Of course, we have worked hard here and we have accomplished much but the work here can in no way be compared to what I am about to do. It is truly different when you are working hard for yourself. And yes, the money I make will go directly to finishing the house but oh, how I will miss my sweet little house and mornings in my valley; the dragonflies awakening and darting carelessly in the crystal air. Of course I will miss Jack and Chigger and Grendal, my sweet kitty. I know I will be home on the weekends also, but when you are pressed for time it's sometimes hard to relax much.
But, such is the life of a construction worker; I have said it before. I joked tonight that maybe after Daddy Rabbit retires, I can really retire also. I do enjoy working with the guys and it is always interesting to go to a new town and see new things. I'm proud of what we build too. None of those crappy shopping malls for us! Since we are building for a university I thought I might even be able to audit a course or some other evening activity. We'll see. Out of town work can be incredibly boring. Well, unless you are into carousing or such and I'm not much into that. Anymore. Heh.
I just know this is going to be quite a shock to my system in many ways. I won't have as much of my home grown food or home cooking. Trying to entertain myself in the evenings is a challenge because I hate TV and I can't afford to do much that costs money. But I think the biggest thing is going to be leaving the peace and quiet of this valley to live in a city in a hotel. Yeck!! I just keep telling myself that I can finish the house, I can finish the house....I will adapt rather quickly to the new waking and working hours though. It has always surprised me how quickly I can get back into the routine of getting up at 4:30 a.m., but I do. I fall out of it just as quickly too! Daddy Rabbit told me they are starting at 6:00 a.m. now but that will change as the seasons do. I just hope I can still handle the heat and the work load. I ain't no spring chicken you know. Speaking of chickens; here's Jack with the main herd of poultry.

We have finally got most of them sleeping on roosts. Some of them took to it naturally and some had to be prompted. They all are getting the hang of it pretty good now. We do have one rooster that developed a leg problem when he was younger and he has a little trouble. His leg bends out the wrong way, you see. I guess some people would say we should have culled him long ago but I felt we should give him a chance and he gets around fine really and doesn't seem to be in any discomfort. I would definitely do something if I thought he was in pain but he seems to enjoy himself. Anyway, he has trouble getting up on the roost. He can sit there fine, once he's there, but can't make the hop up, so whoever puts the chickens up just sets him up on the lower roost and he takes it from there.
It's also a bit of a concern to me to leave my house in the care of someone else. I know that probably sounds stupid but this ain't no ordinary house and I'm no ordinary paranoid woman. I've put so much into this place and to have to leave it's safety to someone else is troubling to me. I know, I know; it's just a house, I'm wacko, the cat's not going to blow the place to smithereens. But, I still fret. At least Jack has learned ALL about the water system since we did the spring box. He ought to know that thing backwards and forwards.
Well, time for bed. I still have one more day to enjoy before I load up and head out early Monday morning. It will be an adventure at any rate, I'm sure. It always is.

Friday Fun

I haven't done anything to intensify the colors in these photos. Straight out of the camera to you! That's one reason I love marigolds, other than their bug repelling properties. No matter how hot and dry it gets, these things always seem to keep on going, no wilting, no fainting, just bright, pulsating color.

The only problem I've had this year is they have gotten so big that their stems have broken in some cases and the plant kinda flops open and splays on the ground. But they still keep blooming!

The butterflies are very abundant right now also. Mainly these type (I don't know the variety) but also a few of those Blue Admirals, I think? I had some caterpillars on my parsley (is that Monarch's) and let them have it but there is no sign of them now. The birds may have gotten to them.

Sometimes You Can't Teach A New Dog Old Tricks

I thought I'd give ya'll a break from the spring workings; for a while anyway. Jack topped out the last of the concrete fill yesterday and is working on backfilling now, so it is sorta boring. I do intend to do a little follow up with some drawings and more info though.
Anyway, here's Chigger with a little comedic relief. She finally wore out her old frisbee, to the point of ripping out the center. She still wanted to play with it however, but would get it stuck over her head like this all the time. She could not seem to figure out how to get it off either. We got a good laugh out of it but I would eventually have to free her from her circle. I felt kinda bad too because it kinda seemed to hurt her feelings if we laughed too much and she would try to hide.

She really didn't want me to take these pictures either but I managed to snap a few. We did buy her a new frisbee but it doesn't fly as well as this one did. At any rate, she still has fun with the new one.

As some of you may have gathered from recent comments, it seems I am back on for the out of town job, so I have been busy once again getting ready for that. One reason I'm not helping backfill the spring box. I've had more stuff to get ready this time but am still waiting. Apparently, the steel has not come in for the job, plus, they are having trouble finding somewhere for me to stay. The area I am going to is one that was hit hard by the tornadoes back in April, so many of the hotels etc. are filled up with people rendered homeless by the storms. And, obviously, I can't room with any of the guys who are already there, so accommodations for just me are a little slim. With any luck Daddy Rabbit has found something starting Monday though. The job we are doing is not a result of those storms either. It was started months before that hit and being mostly concrete, did not suffer any damage although it was in the midst of the storms. So, I'm still just waiting and trying to get what I can done around here until then.
The garden is winding way down but I am still trying to preserve, pickle, dry or cook whatever I can. Making plans for what to plant for the fall and winter now. We also ordered 25 meat birds which should arrive around Sept. 6th, so that will be a new experience. They other chickens are doing great and producing lots of crap and eating lots of bugs but other than that, not contributing much yet. The hens from the bunch should start laying in a month or so however, so that's something. The birds that are coming are actual meat birds and should be harvested within about 8 weeks of their arrival. We'll have to do this when I come home on the weekends.
So, things are never boring around here I guess! Always busy, busy. And now I need to go throw so I can keep some kind of inventory in my stores about town.

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!

One Step Closer

Well, first off, I appreciate all the kind words and compliments from you folks in the last post. Ya'll are sweet. Although, I did have to giggle a little at Island Rider's comparison to a Amazon warrior. I felt like something from the Amazon alright; maybe a giant leech or slug after being in that water for 3 days but not a warrior.! I look at those photos and think I look like hammered cat shit. I certainly feel like hammered cat shit; especially after today.



It was somewhat frustrating at the start today but we got it worked out and once the footprint was down it was just stack, stack, stack. It did take me a little while to get that first run situated correctly and level but my elevations were very close and it all tied in well with the shelf I poured yesterday. I was somewhat disappointed to see that some of that shelf did not set well and was crumbly. This was probably my fault for mixing it too dry. I know that's hard to imagine, it being submerged in water but High/ Early sets FAST. Fortunately, it was on the side where I could actually set block on the floor of the spring, so I just chipped out that crumbly and ran block. I then filled that blocked completely and filled up flush with the top of the shelf. I wish I had photos but you know....
Anyway, you can see how far we got. And, the first 5 runs are filled 100% and have rebar doweled through them. I know some of you may notice that I did not actually mortar the blocks together but with them being in water that's kinda not going to work well. The grout filling them, with the rebar will be plenty sufficient to hold them in place. It's almost like just pouring solid concrete.
Now, some of you may ask, why didn't I just pour concrete walls? Well, if I had used Sonatube, for a round form, the cost would have been much higher. If I had square formed it with plywood the cost might have been about the same but the aggravation of getting a concrete truck back there, the labor of forming and wrecking that form etc. made the block just seem like the easier way to go.


Now, the top 3 runs in this photo have not been poured. We ran out of Sackrete after pouring over half of it but it will be good to let that set up tonight and then pour the remainder tomorrow. You can see here how much clearer the water is already. It's kinda amazing to me. I knew it would clear up but didn't really expect that. As soon as all the concrete sets and such it should become very clear. Oh, the big pipe there and the block will be taken out later. The pipe stubbed up is just to keep me from dropping concrete or kicking gravel into the inlet when I'm working. I'll try to get some better pictures as it clears and we finish up.
Well, today was really exhausting for me. Jack made material runs while I wrecked the form and started stacking block. I stacked and poured while he kept me supplied with material. It worked well. Except for when I fell in first thing this morning (that will wake you up!) and then later when I sat down in the water and forgot my cell phone was in my back pocket. Oh well. I only buy the cheap kind anyway!
So, we hope to finish with the structure tomorrow and I can even do a little cut drawing for ya'll to better show what I did. For now, I have mixed me a good whiskey sour and I am going to relax.

Down In A Hole

Well, we are making progress. Still a ways to go but things are going fairly well and we've not been sucked down into a quagmire yet. To look on the bright side, the water is at least so cold that it keeps us cool while we are working. It is so cool, in fact, that a light fog is almost always present when we are in the hole; a mist formed from the heat of our bodies meeting the cold air rising off the water. I keep meaning to take a thermometer down there and check the actual water temp.

We take turns going down in the hole to dig. One goes down and the other hoists the buckets of mud up and empties them. Works pretty good. After having it firmly implanted in my brain that we were just going to widen a round hole and somehow stack block, I realized that nothing said the hole had to be round...It's funny how you get stuff stuck in your head and don't see alternatives. So, we squared the hole up, which will make setting block in a square much easier. DUH! Note how muddy the water is in this photo. We had stirred up quite a bit of silt and such by this point. Also, note the large rock behind Jack. You can't tell here but under that rock is where the inlet is.


Jack rigged up a cable with a pulley and such for the bucket, which helps greatly, but it is still pretty rough work. Last night my left shoulder was so sore I could barely move it. I either worked it out or something because today it is better.


Here you can see the water flowing in, somewhat. It has been hard for me to get many good pictures because we are usually both either in water or covered in mud. Not really when I want to have a camera in my hand. This crack between the rocks is about 8 inches at the widest point. I would guess this spring puts out about 5 gallons a minute, maybe. In the winter it flows heavier. This large rock threw a little kink in my block laying plans so I had to form a shelf over it.



As you can see here. At this point we have basically finished excavating the walls (it's about a 5 x 5 foot hole). We scooped out all the loose stuff on the bottom until we were below the elevation at which the water comes in. I crammed a 6 inch diameter piece of PVC into the inlet and ran it out to about the middle of the hole and turned it up with a 90. That's what you see with the bucket over it. This will protect the opening of the spring. We then filled the bottom with about a 6 inch layer of crushed stone. This hardened up the bottom remarkably well. Before we would sink several inches into the muck while we were working but now you can walk around just fine. I was very surprised that little bit of stone worked so well. You can even see how much that stone layer helped clear up the water. I mean, it's not clear yet but it's better than it was. So, I then threw this form up so that it was tight against the face of that rock, squared it up best I could, staked it in place and kicked it off. We used stone rubble to fill up most of the space behind the form and over the PVC inlet but used big enough chunks that the water can flow freely. I am not trying to force the water to come in through the PVC pipe only but rather to simply block out a space were it always could if the areas around the pipe become clogged. I then used smaller stones to kinda seal the top on the rubble so that the concrete would not seep down into the inlet and seal it off. As an added insurance, we mixed the concrete fairly stiff so it would not ooze much. I used a High/ Early mix so that it would set quickly. We kept the water pumped down for a while but then let the spring fill back up. Keep in mind, concrete does not dry; it sets by a chemical reaction so water being on it does not hurt it. I also threw a few pieces of rebar in the shelf to help it and had stacked 3 layers of block on the outside to get a grade by, which I marked in the inside of the form. This, hopefully, will work out so that the blocks laid on this shelf will lay in with the other walls with nothing needing to be cut down. Since I can manipulate the gravel on the floor of the spring I can adjust the blocks to meet correctly but this should make it very close as it is now.
One other note about this photo: we take the foot valve and all out of the spring every morning as we begin work so nothing is in the way. This was taken towards the end of the day, after we had replaced the foot valve and reconnected the water. Fortunately, the spring cleans itself well enough that we can use the water by the time it refills. Now, we don't use it for drinking or cooking yet but it is fine for bathing etc. and it is filtered before it comes in the house. We do keep buckets of water on the deck though, to dump over ourselves at the end of the day in order to get clean enough to come in the house in order to take a shower. Heh.


If you look close enough you can see the little peepers that were staring at me most of the day. He is not happy that we have invaded his spring. I tossed him out twice and he is right back in there as soon as I turn my back. I was hoping that he would hop down to the creek, which is not 20 feet away, but he likes this hole.

In the afternoon the chickens come down to inspect things. Big 'Un, on the right, gave us his approval. Chigger thinks it's all great fun because it gives her an excuse to go play in the creek and mud while we are working. She won't go down there unless we are nearby.

This was taken at the end of the first day. Today was not much better. I suspect my clothes are ruined so we have been wearing the same ones over and over! Yeck! What a mess! Hopefully, I will start stacking block tomorrow and will be finished by the end of the weekend.