Cinderblock Garden

 Our garden this year is off to a great start due to the early spring and my actually getting off my butt this year and starting quite a lot of things from seed, rather than waiting on the local stores to get stuff out.  Seems they are always late.  Plus, they don't have the greatest variety of plants.  This is my first year growing radishes and I am stoked!  They came out so beautiful and SO tasty.  I've been making a radish/ cucumber salad that is to die for.  I mean seriously good.

 I wanted to experiment with more raised bed gardening so we are slowly transitioning over to large concrete block beds.  We get the blocks from a local concrete company as seconds (although I can't see much wrong with them) so it's much more affordable than buying new block.  Not the most attractive things in the world but you can make them look okay.  Beautiful plants like thins growing in them makes them much more attractive!

 This is the old strawberry bed that never produced a whole lot and was terrorized by moles and wild violets.  I dug the whole thing out, laid mole barrier in the bottom, refilled it with enriched soil and now it's got a bumper crop of broccoli and cauliflower in it.  We have a local farm that sells the best strawberries ever, so I'd just as soon buy from them.  They are reasonable and organic.

 Seems we'll also have a bumper crop of blueberries this year too.  This is especially great because blueberries are very anti-histamine and I've found a recipe for a coconut milk, blueberry, mango smoothie that is wonderful!  I have one several times a week now so I'll be freezing quarts and quarts of these these beauties this year.  Not so much jam but that's okay.

 I was attempting to till up the okra space but the girls commandeered it for bathing.  They thought it mighty kind to make that bath space just for them.  They have all been through their spring worming and are laying pretty good right now so they deserve a few treats!

 One view of the new raised bed area.  I've planted most everything that you see in those starter pots and it's all well on it's way at this point.  Still have not finished planting the main garden but we are getting close.

We are also experimenting in planting in double size concrete block.  Seems to be going okay at this point.  This is an old photo and these sugar peas are well over the top of the fence now and making little peas!  If we have enough stuff we are also going to try selling at the local farmer's market this spring.I'm all for it though, if we can produce enough stuff!  I think we'll have some different things, more heirloom veggies and stuff but whether that appeals to anyone in this area remains to be seen.  Anyway, we'll have lots of fresh veggies and fruits and it's very gratifying to grow so much tasty food!

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.

Tell Me 'Bout It

I thought I'd include a quick photo to show ya'll how the little craps are growing and starting to look like big chickens now. They are a lively bunch and never ending source of entertainment. Very few of them are actually the breeds or the number thereof we were told we were getting. I don't believe I'll be too quick to buy from that guy again. Well, live and learn...

Now, on the main subject of this post: I thought it was funny that yesterday's post title got way more hits than even the "Great Big Knockers"! But, Ron, you shouldn't have deleted your original comment on that last post! I was not put off by it and you have a right to express your opinion. I hope my reply comment did not come off as brusque or snippy. I was in a little bit of a hurry yesterday to get going and kinda rushed through a few comments that morning. I needed to go into Birmingham for a multitude of errands and meetings and it was about 10:00 last night before I got home. I intended to continue answering comments but during the last hour of my trip I developed one of my tri-annual migraines and made it home limping and dragging. I had trouble reading, much less typing something legible, so thought I'd just respond to comments here. I feel somewhat better today but am a bit fuzzy still from the meds. At any rate, I don't want my readers to feel they cannot dispute me or argue their point. Ed has disagreed with me a few times and I still let him come around! LOL!! Sometimes it's hard to remember to make absolutely every point you want to within one post. I certainly did not want to make it sound like regular Joe's (non-construction people) can't do a good job. Certainly they can. And I have seen, in person, some horrible examples of "professional" work. I actually meant to include such in my original post but my memory leaves me sometimes. I'll never forget once, Allen and I watched a crew of home builders pouring a footing for one of your typical McMansion type houses in a suburb. This was probably a 2,500 sq.ft. home or more, so a sizable footprint. Now, they were pouring directly out of the truck and we noticed that they only moved that truck once. You see, the concrete was SO wet, it RAN all the way around the footings. We call that pea soup at work. And that is one reason I would never want a licenced home builder, other than Allen, to build anything for me. Sure, the mud set up. But what it's going to do 10 years from now when the ground has heaved a little here and there.....
And what Jenn said in comments about a commercial block building that they didn't even grout or throw their rebar in...Dang! I wonder how that got past inspection? but stuff like that does occasionally happen. That was one reason I was so reluctant to ever work for another construction company than the one I did. We did our work right! We never cut corners on our concrete or reinforcing. We were proud of our work and rightly so.

But yall, please, if you don't agree with me on something, feel free to say so if you're inclined. I would love to get more comments than I do because I like discussion and I am not up here just to spout out what I think is so. I show what has worked, or not worked, for me and I show some building techniques I know to be correct because I know a lot of people want that information but I am not an authority and somebody can always come up with a better or easier way. We always said at work; a good carpenter is NOT one that never makes a mistake. A good carpenter is one that knows how to fix his mistakes. You can always learn from others too. I know I may have a terse manner sometimes and some of my comments may seem snippy but it's just years of construction work and that environment. I know that sounds like a lame excuse but, well, you work on those sites for 20 years and tell me what you think. lol! Either way, I welcome all comments. Unless, you tell me I'm a bitch; then I'll kick your ass!

Busy Bee

Well, looks like I've let time get away from me again. Allen called the other night to see if I had been sick since I had not posted in a while. Not sick, just run like crazy! I finally got up a list of galleries that I wanted to visit last week, in an effort to start moving more pottery and art. Many of the old galleries I used to show with have gone out of business so I had to find some new. So, I packed up some stuff and headed to town, intent on staying all day if I had to in order to find new venues. It was an interesting experience. It is both flattering and a bit disconcerting to go into a gallery and have them say, 'yes, we've heard of you; we would like to carry your work'. I stopped after 4 places because I realized I needed to get home and start throwing! I had some stuff already made but need quite a bit more to satisfy their requirements. One gallery wants to carry only my dinnerware and one place is just coffee mugs and another wants more "art" type pieces.
By the way, the orders that have been placed by you folks are still in the front of the line. I fired last night and will glaze fire soon.

Been working in the garden too. Pulled up most of the cabbage that went to seed and replaced with more broccoli and bok choy. Also, got my zucchini and yellow squash in the ground that I had started form seed. We had a lot of rain last week, then a beautiful weekend, then more storms Monday and now pretty weather again. Everything seems to be growing well.

I really hope the garden does well this year, what with the price of food going up like it is.

Chicken house is making slow progress. I took time over the weekend to lay the block before the rains came on Monday. I just need to fill it now to start framing.

And I try to make some time as often as I can for this. However, the other day I had been especially busy and had just ignored Chigger all day. I had finally come inside to start supper and I heard the most pitiful moaning and whining coming from outside. I looked out and poor Chigger was sitting by the deck, looking up into the window with her frisbee in her mouth and just crying pitifully. It was almost dark but I went back out and threw it for her until we just couldn't really see anymore. That seemed to make her happy. She's a real sweet dog.
Okay, time to get back to work!

It's In The Way That You Use It

In honor of today being Eric Clapton's birthday I must, of course, use one of his songs for the post title. One of my more favorite of his songs actually but not one of his more commercially popular. And I have even heard him sing it in person, many years ago.
So, yesterday I got all the forms wrecked off the concrete and cleaned up the area. That's the only crappy thing about concrete; you have to tear down all that wood you just put together! But the slab and footing came out well with very little honeycomb to be seen. After getting things cleaned up I went around and gathered up all the 6" block I had scavenged over the last little while and carried it to the area. I laid out the walls and openings to figure out just how many blocks I am going to need to buy. Looks like I'll need to purchase about 10 to finish. Not too bad.
Now, I know a lot of you are wondering why I'm going ot lay block when I have this concrete slab now to build on. Well, I'll tell you. On the right side, near the garden, the concrete is about at grade, meaning the wood framing would be close to touching dirt on that side if I just framed right on top of the slab. You need to have your framing and siding about 8 inches above grade here because of the termite scourge. Those buggers will eat everything. I don't want dirt washing up on my siding and sheathing to give those guys a starting point. Plus, I want to be able to hose the chicken coop out at times and if my framing were done on the slab I would be soaking it every time I washed. So, I elevate the framing on this block and it solves all that. I can wash up on the concrete block to my heart's content. Now, the block will be mortared and pinned to the slab with rebar and then filled to allow me a solid surface to anchor my framing to. Considering that most of the block and rebar are free, this is not an expensive detail.

It rained all last night and drizzled most of today so I didn't work on the coop any. Instead, I did what I've been needing to do for a while and that was throw some more pottery! I got a good bit made and will be firing shortly, I hope. I've got to start making a bit more of an effort to market my work if I'm going to make a living at this stuff. Since I got no comments on the new pottery page I will assume either, 1. no one looked at it 2. anybody that did look at it thought it was okay Or, 3. everybody that looked at it thought it sucked horribly but is afraid to say anything to me. LOL!! Mainly, I was wondering if the black background in the photos looks too severe or does it highlight the work nicely?

Chigger has declared herself the Official Stick Wrangler and dutifully makes it a point to gather and harass all sticks, no matter their size, when we go walkabout. She's pretty good about carrying them all the way up to the house but I need to teach her to deposit them in the burn pile or the kindling box.

All Together Now

Alright, I finally have a completed project to show ya'll. You may remember I started on this one some time back when I first laid this little block knee wall. That was in preparation for this. I backfilled behind the wall with gravel and also filled all the cells of the block with gravel except for the cells in which I had drilled the floor and driven rebar vertically, to help tie the wall to the floor. Those cells I filled with concrete. I then formed this little slab on top of the wall. You will see that I have put a vapor barrier down under the wire. If you ever pour a slab in an area that might ever, ever be enclosed, you need to put a vapor barrier down or you can have moisture issues later. Since this is in an enclosed basement I always put poly down. Say you pour a concrete patio out back and in your wildest fantasies think maybe you might one day make it into a sun room or such; put a vapor barrier down! It is cheap and will save you much if you do ever enclose the area on the slab. This little slab is only two inches thick but will be fine for the shelves I want to put here. I always put wire or rebar or some reinforcing in my slabs also. Welded wire is great and this is some I had scavenged off a job a couple of years ago.

I just happen to have a bit of plyform which I ripped down to make the edge form. Plyform is simply a high grade 3/4" plywood that has been treated with a release agent so that it will not fall apart because it absorbed water off the concrete and will release after the concrete cures without pulling chunks out of the slab edge when you wreck it off. I highly recommend the stuff if you are pouring anything that will show after it is finished. If you can't get it then an alternative is just to spray regular plywood with motor oil. Works great and is much cheaper than painting the plywood with any type sealer.
After establishing the correct elevation for the top of the plyform on one end, I drilled through the plywood, with a hammer drill, into either a concrete filled cell or into the solid wall of the block, as you can see in these photos. With one end of the form set at the correct height, I simply used a 4' level to get the rest of the form correct or you could pull a string line. The top of your block is not going to be correct all the way, so you don't want to just measure up off that.

I then used my cordless drill with a nut driver to run a Tapcon through the plyform and into the block. Tapcons are wonderful! We use the quite a lot at work. They come in a wide variety of sizes and lengths and can be reused many times. Any time you are attaching something to any masonry product and think you might want to take it back off one day, I would recommend using Tapcons. Now, Tapcon is a brand name but anytime you see these big, bright blue screws with coarse threads, that is what they are. You have to have a hammer drill to use them though; a regular drill, even with a masonry bit, won't hardly drill a proper hole for them.

Thank God I was able to borrow Allen's concrete mixer and mixed my mud for the slab. It went SO much easier than mixing by hand. I'm just getting too old for that crap! I just threw a little 2x4 form up in the back and leveled over to establish a grade line on it. You can pop a chalk line and then drive a few nails partially in, along the line, so you can see your grade after the mud goes in. Since the top of my form on front was on grade, I just ran my screed along the top and made sure the other end was on the nails along the 2x4. When you screed concrete, you kinda saw the board back and forth as you push or pull it along. This gives you a pretty level surface; just make sure you stay on your grade marks!
After you screed it off, smooth the surface with a hand float just enough to seal the holes and lay it down smooth. Then leave it alone!! Let the water come to the top but do not work it back in! you will see when the surface starts tightening up. The water will start disappearing. Go over it once more with the float to smooth it further and then let sit again. You can either broom it or go over it with a trowel to get a slicker finish but this takes much practice.

I also ran an edger along the front edge to give it a nice rounded corner on front. I'll get a picture of this thing one day. They are handy to have if you pour much concrete. So, I let the slab cure for about a week and then wrecked the forms and installed my shelving. This frees up much space in the basement and has made things much more organized. I plan to continue the little wall all the way down and probably add a few more shelves. I also bought a few storage tubs and organizers for my tools and drill bits, etc.

I don't really make New Year's resolutions but one thing I really want to work on here is more organization and storage. Getting the basement in proper order is a big accomplishment and I think will help me greatly. It's especially important now because Jack has brought a number of his tools and such and I want to make room for his stuff and have him feel comfortable. Many people have commented that my house was not built for two people but I think I can make it work. We do need a separate workshop but that's a whole 'nuther project!!

Stuck

Gaaaaaaackkkkk! Ugh, I feel like I am stuck in the worst combination of writers' block and just mental disorganization. I guess I've got so many projects going on at once around here that I literally can't think straight, much less form any kind of sensible writing. I have at least, been trying to focus on my studio and the goings on there this week and I have limited my gardening to after 'work' hours or the weekends. I am trying to maintain actual studio hours like it's a job. Because it kinda is, if I am going to try to make any money at it. So, one project is to lay up this small block wall in the basement. I may not have shown many photos of my basement/ studio but it is not a full basement. The concrete floor exists only in half of the space. The rest is storage over dirt floor. Anyway, this little knee wall will divide these spaces and give me a clean, defined edge for the working area. I am going to backfill with gravel and then pour a little concrete pad on top, which I then will install metal shelving on top of. I am in great need of shelving to organize my tools and hardware. This will also give me a little more space because now those shelves sit out on the concrete floor. Now, I ain't no block mason, so don't be dissing on my block work. It is functional but it ain't purty. It is fairly straight though. After I laid the first course I drilled the floor about every other cell and drove in rebar to anchor the wall. I then laid the next course and will fill each cell with concrete.

I have also been throwing as regularly as I can, in between all the other stuff I've been doing. This is the bisque load that came out this morning. I spent most all day today glazing and getting ready to fire again tomorrow. I felt like I was really making some progress but as I was cleaning up this evening and putting the glazes away, I came to a very discouraging realization. I have two glazes, a slate blue and an oatmeal, that look almost identical in their liquid states and.....yes, I had mixed them up, thinking that I had glazed certain pieces in one color when in fact, it was the other color. Now, had these only been glazed in that one color, it wouldn't be much of a big deal. But no, I like to mix colors and double dip some stuff for effect. So, the secondary colors I used, that go well with one glaze, don't necessarily go with the other glaze. And it goes on and on. One glaze must be applied thinly etc. Blah, blah, blah. Bottom line, I get to wash all that glaze off the pieces in question and start over. Damn.

So, anyway, other things are going well. Jack is experimenting with sprouting seeds for eating and I'll show that soon. He is also building the coldframe for me. He kinda fusses about actually building anything for me because I think, he thinks, I'm going to criticize his work, seeing that I am a carpenter, but as long as it holds together and looks halfway reasonable, I am okay with it.
And I think he came up with a good idea for the foundation of the coldframe.

Keep It Coming Up

Was that an old KC and the Sunshine Band song or someone else? Am I really showing my age here? Oh well, that song actually came on the radio while I was working and I've always liked it for just goofy, danceabililty stuff. This weekend I started on the rock wall that will enclose the underside of the house. Winter will be here before you know it and I have got to protect those water lines. Plus, I still have not collected enough paychecks yet to buy material for the interior of the house. These rocks are free. For now, I am just going to concentrate on closing up the "basement" and will do the stone planter beds that go in front of the concrete block at a later date after I move in. Got to get the essentials first.
I am sort of dry stacking the stones and trying to fit them as tight as possible. I am using a little mortar now towards the back of the stones so that it will not show on the face. I will go back later and put a parge coat of mortar on the interior side, filling in any voids with scrap rock. This is just a close up so that you can see that I am using anything from large stones down to very small. I really like the contrast of the sizes. I plan to repeat an occasional, very large stone throughout the height of the wall, not just on the bottom like in the first photo, so that the wall looks balanced.
Later on Sunday I mixed up 3 bags of Sackrete that we have had sitting around for a while and filled some of the block with it. I only need to fill the block in front of the columns where those metal ties are, so that's not so bad. Yes, I know, I needed to have had gloves on. Concrete can be very bad on the skin.
Allen spent the weekend filling in the water line trench. Not very exciting but another thing that must be done before cold weather. I have come to the conclusion also, that my filtration system is not working well enough. I am going to have to work on that some more and probably end up buying yet another filter. So far, I just have a spiral-down sediment filter (no cartridge, you just purge it) and one 6-stage filter for chemicals, organisms etc. but the sediment is still getting through. I don't understand it really. I think that the severe drought may be affecting things too.
I will try to post more. Work is pretty rough right now and I didn't do much last week after getting home. The heat just drains you so; I have pretty much let my garden go too. Stay cool!

Southern Rain

We are still getting a good bit of rain every day it seems like down here. Plants are going nuts everywhere. The title of this post is a old Cowboy Junkies song. If I were smart enough I could put a link in so that you could hear part of the song but as it is, you'll just have to Google them if you want to. Great band though. The song starts out with the husband saying, "looks like a storm cloud coming, honey, guess we'll have to stay in bed today". It goes on about other stuff and then she ends the song saying you'll never catch her complaining about too much southern rain. I wouldn't either.
I don't think I have shown a picture of the exterior of the house in a while. Not much has changed there. All of the block that is going to be laid is there though. Charles came this past week and finished that up. This photo looks kind of messy though; I need to do a good clean-up. Lots is happening on the inside of the house though. I finished the ceiling, hallelujah!!!! We are going to be installing the slate floor in the bathroom on Sunday. More walls are primed and ready for finish paint.

The pump house is much further along but not quite finished. I still need to roof it and put a door on. At some point it will get a floor too. I am going to build 2 small retaining walls on either side of the trail leading up to the door also and backfill all that so most of the concrete you see here will be covered up. The pump and tank continue to work great in this location. It is better we moved all this down here as it turns out because this equipment is louder than we thought it would be and if it stayed under the house you would definitely be hearing all that.

Hopefully, the slate floor will go well tomorrow and I'll try to get some more inside photos up.

Stacked

This weekend was very productive and some noticeable things are going on at the house. My mason buddy (Charles) came Friday and Saturday and started closing up the underside of the house. We ran out of block so it's not completed but I hope to be able to scrounge up some more soon. Now, when completed, this block will not show on the outside of the house. A stone planter will be built in front of the block and stone will top out the wall above the planter. I got the block for free and am trading for the labor to lay it, so I thought it would save me time and rock gathering labor to do it this way. If you notice the bright pink ball of string in the bottom right of the photo, Charles said he bought that just for me and this job. It takes a manly mason to use pink string. I wonder if he will carry to any other jobs though.

Due to lack of planning more than poor planning, lots of cuts had to be made and so that is why this little bit of block took 2 days to lay. I had originally thought the whole wall would be stone and so footing steps, column lines etc. didn't matter. They matter a lot if you lay block. But he was very kind about it and did a beautiful job. I told him it didn't have to be so neat but he wouldn't have it any other way because he said someone might see it before it got covered up. And I thought I was obsessive-compulsive.

I welded these ties on every 16" vertically (to hit in every other joint) and then painted my welds with primer. You can see that the ties have a slot that the little wire can move up and down in so you have about 3" in case the tie isn't in exactly the right spot. This block has been "buttered" and is waiting for the next block to be set on top.

I also had to serve as the laborer because a mason usually does not mix or carry any mud, block or tools. So, after proper instruction, I mixed the mortar, kept it on the boards, kept it wet, carried and placed block, made some cuts and generally tried to keep Charles from having to do anything but lay the block. I did not succeed on everything. I cooked lunch for him and welded a fender back on his trailer too so maybe I did my part for the weekend. He claims that he has not laid block in about 10 years (2 back surgeries) so I said this was sort of like a limited edition wall then. I'm proud to have it at any rate. At the end I also provided some comedy for him because he wanted me to try laying the last couple of block. Let me tell you, it's much harder than it looks. But I did see the tricks to it and, as I told him, I learned a lot. I learned I don't want to be a mason.

We had some friends visit who have been watching the blog for a while and that was fun although I didn't get to talk with them a whole lot due to work. Allen got most of the pump house framed and we both worked on wiring it on Sunday. After a pain in the butt ordeal we finally got the wire pulled and the connections made and he set the pump today. We may try to move the pressure tank tomorrow.

I'm still out of work. Maybe that won't last much longer because things are getting pretty slim as far as being able to buy materials for the house. But it will all work out fine.