Rites Of Spring

Well, I keep telling ya'll I'm gonna change up this blog or add some stuff or blah, blah, blah and I haven't done crap!  I will one day.  There's just so much to distract me right now with this wonderfully warm weather and sunny days.  I'm soaking it up like an old, dried up sponge that got kicked under the sink and laid there for a year or so before somebody found it.  And then you throw it in some water and it poofs up!!! like a petrified blowfish!  That's me alright!  Poofed up and prickly. LOL!

And I took a good bit of this past Sunday to work on the flower bed (it's getting close) placing more stone, filling in with topsoil and moving a few plants around.  Anytime the shovel comes out ZuZu is right there beside me.  She knows what that means!  Lots of bugs and worms and she doesn't have to do the digging!  She inspects everything before I can fill any hole or place any root ball and talking up a storm the whole time.  I wonder what she says; whether she's complaining or expressing her pleasure as she must think I do this just for her.  She gets so enthusiastic I'm often afraid I'm going to chop off a toe or two (hers) when she jumps in a hole unexpectedly.  But we've been safe so far!

This is just more gratuitous blooming photos.  See how I layered the 2 blooming plants to get like, bloom overload.  The reddish blooms in the foreground are a decorative crabapple I think.  The past 2 springs have turned ugly with late frosts and got this tree before it could bloom properly but this year it made up for all that.  Just loaded with big, full blooms.  Maybe it will eventually get over 7 feet and actually be a noticeable part of the landscape.

And lookeeee!!!   the asparagus are just starting to poke their little heads up!!  I don't think I've ever been so enthused over a plant.  Hhmm, maybe I need some more excitement in my life.  Oh well.  For some reason I thought the asparagus would sprout sometimes in early March or so but after reading a little I determined that April and actually May is normal.  I also read that you should pull the heavy winter mulch off the asparagus at the first sign of warm weather.  Does anybody else do this?  I pulled about half the layer of mulch off and as I did this I discovered the few shoots coming up.
I also read that most fruit should be mulched with pine straw, so I've been working on that.  I knew it was good for strawberries and blueberries, so they got a new top coating, and also went around the border of the garden mulching the grapes, raspberries and figs with it too.  Do any of you use pine straw on your fruit or something else?

Sooo, lots of stuff going on around here and I'll have more to show before too long.  I promise I am working on some stuff in the house too, so maybe a post about that soon.

Silent Sunday (well, not really)

 We've been getting some hard frosts but the broccoli is taking it all in stride and growing.  Supposedly it can take down to around 20 degrees F.

 Full occupancy!  First time I've seen this!

 Ms. BeaBea hiding out in the dusting box.  She's been molting so she's been keeping a low profile.  She almost seems embarrassed by what she looks like and doesn't want anybody to see her.  Bertha has been kind enough to stay with her and keep her company though.  They are the two oldest hens and pretty tight friends.

Interesting rock.  These are all over my land and range from golf ball size to truck size.

Go On Girl

I've been trying to get back to working on the house, so I ran what little trim I had left of the clerestory windows. I have SO got to finish the exterior. I'm going to try to get the corner boards put up this weekend and at least run the siding down on this end. I ran out of trim for the other two windows and will have to order more.

I have been reserving afternoons for gardening. My strawberries produced better this year but they are still not doing great. My tomatoes seem to be doing really well so far though.
The gravel is referred to as 89-10. It is a very fine crushed limestone, you can get it in grey or light brown, and when it gets wet it compacts very hard. It's great for walks and such. I did put a weed barrier down underneath, as you can see, just for the heck of it. We had some extra from work but it was not enough to finish this path after I filled in a few potholes in the drive so I guess I'll just order a small load and have it delivered to the house.

My plan is to run this gravel walkway all around the perimeter of the garden, having fruiting plants on the outside edge and the veggies on the inside. I just put in 2 blueberry bushes there on the near left.

Does anyone know what this plant is? I have this one growing near he house and it seems to be the only one around. And this one flower seems to be the only on the bush. It's very pretty.

So, I hope to have much progress made over the weekend and be able to show ya'll something new. I know it's been a while since I have posted much on the house and ya'll are probably tired of my ramblings and other psycho babble.

Steppin' Out

Well, I set the last step this morning and then tried to straighten and clean up a bit. I think the steps came out pretty well. They're very sturdy if nothing else. I can be a little OCD about some stuff, insisting on perfectly straight lines and right angles etc. but with this type of material you have to be accepting of a certain, shall we say, organic quality to the work. There are some cracks and the run of the steps vary some, but it is okay. It is what it is. I like the challenge of taking found materials and creating with them as they are. Just making what you were given work, you know. Too bad I have trouble with this philosophy in other parts of my life.
I sit back and look at this, and other stuff I build, and I wonder sometimes why the hell go to so much trouble? Why didn't I just put the house where I wouldn't have needed a retaining wall for parking? Why not just build a regular house and be done with it? Just go to Lowe's and buy their stock cabinets or whatever, stick it in and go on with my life? It occurred to me today that perhaps it is vanity. Pure vanity just to prove to somebody that I can do this. I don't know who and I've built enough over the years that I don't think I really have more to prove.
I was so sore last night when I went to bed, I figured I would go right to sleep but I couldn't. I hurt all over. It would have been nice to have had a warm, male body to lie against. Maybe that would have helped me sleep, like a heating pad, you know. But the guys at work, and others, tell me that my doing stuff like this is intimidating to men and that I scare them off. This is not my opinion, mind you. This is what men have told me. It's emasculating for men to see that I can do this and don't need a man to help me. Maybe so, I don't know. I know I can see that look though, when I tell some guy I've met that I built my own house. And that is not something I am quick to say, believe me. But the look that says, "this woman's delusional and if she's telling the truth, she's psychotic."
Oh, sorry I'm in a kinda crappy mood. Well, not really crappy, just weird. Maybe I am insane and don't know it. They say that if you really are nuts, that you think you're fine. Hhhmm. Well, maybe one day I can find a way to have this land turned into a park and all the little kids can sit around and tell stories about this crazy lady that built all this! lol! And every once in a while she would lure some unsuspecting man back into the woods and ...... okay, okay enough of that! ha! Time to go visit Cat Daddy this weekend.


*Joe Jackson

Stepping Stone

First thing this morning I was off to the quarry to find some stone for my steps. I hated to spend much but any alternative, such as concrete, would have cost much more, so sometimes you just gotta bite the bullet. So, I ended up buying around 3 tons of stone and, with delivery charges, it was about $300. Not horrible and the guy was real nice to let me run around and pick out each stone. Of course, I was picking through the drop, so it was stuff they didn't care much about anyway. Normal cut stone would have been much more.
Drop is what is left from breaks and cuts etc. The scrap, basically. Aren't the colors in this one beautiful. You know, these things didn't look that big out in their yard but when they slid off the truck into my drive I had to think, "what the heck have I gotten myself into this time". These things are huge. I know a lot of you say, 'wow, you do so much' and 'I can't believe you do that' and stuff but it's not that I'm all that, it's more like, "holy crap, I just bought $300 worth of stone. I've got to do something with it!"
So, you just start setting the things. I eyeballed where I wanted them to go and leveled a place in the dirt. The boards under there are just so I can pull those straps out and then I wedge up the stone with a Burke bar and pull the dunnage out. Kind of a pain but it's just what you got to do. At times, I had a 20 lb. pry bar in each hand, prying the pry bars out! I made sure this first step was set as best I could and, amazingly enough, it set perfectly level with very little adjustment.
This is actually the third step. The first one is pretty much buried at this point from digging out the successively higher steps and the dirt rolling down. I set these about the same as the rocks for the wall in that I filled in behind the stones as I went up.
This photo is kinda crappy but basically you can see what I've got so far. The stones are all almost exactly 7" thick, which is perfect stair riser height. Due to the fact the front edges are not cut and kinda wavy, the run of the steps is between 12" (standard) and 14". Actually, I think 11" may be code but anyway, I thought this dimension felt right. They climb very comfortably. I set one more step after this photo so I have 5 up and one more to go. It started to rain slightly on me but it actually felt good. Cooled things off some.
I'll try to get some better photos tomorrow. I almost forgot to take any today, I got so caught up in what I was doing.
Now, it's bed time. I'm really tired for some reason.

*Duffy

Rock On

I know ya'll are probably getting sick of seeing this wall but I'm trying to focus on getting this thing done. They are coming to get the machine this Thursday, so I must get the biggest rocks set. So far, I've just shown general photos but I thought I'd show ya'll more of how I'm building this wall. The level there shows that the wall is not plumb. I'm letting it lean back about 2-3 inches into the bank, just as a general precaution against the bank settling and pushing outward. I don't think these rocks are going anywhere but it never hurts to be a little cautious. I can afford for it to come out a little but it's a major pain in the wahzoo to get it back in.
After I set the first layer of stone and get it situated where I want it, I backfill up level with the rock to give the next rock plenty of support. It's also easier to get a more solid backfilling this way. On a side note, I did not pour a footing under this wall, like I normally might, because it's not that tall and the ground underneath was not disturbed. The stones sit on hard, packed dirt that was never cut into, so I think the chances for settling are minimal.
Since most of the stones are so large, I've had to put a strap on them and lift them into place with the machine. This takes a lot of time when you are working by yourself but that's okay. Here, I have picked this one but couldn't get the strap to tighten correctly, so I had to stick a small stone in there as a spacer, so the larger rock would sit up straight and not fall out of the strap.
Here, I have the rock about where I want it and am lowering it into place. Once it's sitting on the other stones I can move it some with the long spike. I also use the spike to leverage the stone up and pull the strap out. Allen says this is a mighty ambitious project for such a little girl as me. It's not so bad though. It did take me about an hour on each of these two large stones but it is actually fairly easy to swing them into place. Somehow I always pick the right stone too. I've never had to take one down because I couldn't get it to fit right.
Of course, there is always a little filling in to do if you don't cut the stones any and I like to work with their natural shape. Besides, cutting these stones would be a major job! The vertical stone on the left is where this section ends and there will be steps leading up to the house on the other side where the bank is not cut back.
I'm fairly proud of the way this project is turning out. I am going to one of the many stone quarries in town tomorrow to see about buying some precut stones for the steps. If they are not too expensive it would be much easier than pouring concrete steps or something like that.

Ah, yes, and it is now official; I am laid off! Got to call the office tomorrow and see about my vacation time etc. I have over a week's worth of paid vacation and our pay is a week behind, so I'll receive my regular pay for the next two weeks and then go on unemployment. I'm very excited and hope to get so much done. Yea!!! I hear rumors about one or two jobs starting in September and October so I might get on one of those. Or, hell, I might retire and never go back!

Too Much To Ask

I had grand designs to move this rock over to my wall from the far side of the house. I put my boot in there to show scale but it doesn't do the stone justice. It seems much bigger standing next to it. I was able to dig the rock up (you can see how much was buried) and move it out into the open but couldn't get it picked up with the bucket. So, I thought I would put a strap on it and carry it that way. I had successfully moved one other rock that way and I was able to strap the rock and get it about a foot off the ground but that was about it. These excavators have a small dozer blade on the front which you can also use as an outrigger to stabilize yourself when picking an object or digging. When I let off on the blade, in order to travel, the front of the machine started tipping forward and forward....and so I let the rock back down and took the strap off. This is how you decide which rocks will just be lawn ornaments.
Little Tachie (the excavator) just didn't have enough ass to carry that much rock so we tucked our tails between our legs and had to settle for this little thing. Not even a bucket full. Pfft. Well, it all helps!
I have made a little more progress on the wall and added one found object just to see how that is going to work. Can you spot it?
Here is a full view of all I have up so far. Actually, I think I continued to work after I took this and I have the wall up to it's full height all the way. It's almost addictive to me to start working on this because it becomes like a game to find just the right rock to fit and so on. I worked until it was almost dark. Hopefully, I will have lots of time for it next week.
I think my design work is fair but then you find something like this. Such subtle beauty in this tiny design. Makes my handiwork look clumsy and awkward.

*Avril Lavigne

Rock And A Hard Place

OK Pablo, here's your slightly racy photo... :D

Completely unintentional, let me add!


*The Rolling Stones.....ah! I slay me!

'Splain

From a couple of questions I got, I thought I would divulge a little info about the photos in the last post.
The heart rock is another one I have found just this week on the job. Sitting at break, I happen to look down at my feet and there it was. One of my buddies at work said I should sleep with it under my pillow one night and see what I dream about. Hhhmmm. I might. Just to say, I rarely ever dream about people I know. Usually I dream about buildings or animals and such.

Yes, that is razor wire in the second photo but no, it is nowhere around my house. All of the photos have to do with work and the warehouse where we are working is very tightly secured. Tall fences and razor wire encircle the whole place. They are serious about protecting their food. The job is in a very bad part of Birmingham also and I suppose, especially nowadays, so much food sitting around is very tempting to some.

The boots (and all attached) are mine. I haven't gotten even 10 months out of this pair and I really need to buy another. It is so hard for me to find work boots small enough for me. And yes, I've checked on the internet. They don't even make the style and type, brand etc. that I like in women's. I still end up buying men's. But that's OK.

Work Me, Lord

Work me lord, work me lord.
Please don't you leave me,
I feel so useless down here
With no one to love
Though I've looked everywhere
And I can't find me anybody to love,
To feel my care.
So ah work me lord, whoa use me lord,
Don't you know how hard it is
Trying to live all alone.
Every day I keep trying to move forward,
But something is driving me, oh, back,
Honey, something's trying to hold on to me,
To my way of life.
So don't you forget me down here, lord,
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
Ah, ah, don't you forget me, lord.
Well I don't think I'm any very special
Kind of person down here, I know better,
But I don't think you're gonna find anybody,
Not anybody who could say that they tried like I tried,
The worst you can say all about me
Is that I'm never satisfied. whoa.


*the incomparable Janis Joplin/ she says it so much better than I can.

How Do You Mend A Broken Heart?

A few days ago Florida Cracker made a post about a heart-shaped Alabama rock over at Pure Florida. I was not going to post about mine but after I saw his I thought, "what the heck". We were rolling around in a ditch (footing) at work trying to set some wall forms when I looked down at my knee and saw this rock. FC's rock appears much bigger and nicer and does have a slight crack through it. But mine is broken, with a piece missing. 'Course, that is sort of what gives it that heart shape. No more comment other than to say it's funny how you find or see things at certain times in your life.
And yes, that is my dirty, rough ol' paw in the photo. Concrete work messes your hands up something terrible even when you wear gloves.


* The Bee Gees

Hot, Hot, Hot!

Hey! I'm back! I have not burst into a ball of flames and been reduced to nothing but ashes unlike a lot of other stuff around here. It is SO freaking hot. The past 4 days have all been 100 degrees or more and they keep forcasting more of the same for several more days. Everything is burnt up; my flowers, half of the garden etc. Well, I've gone back to work and that has been interesting, especially with the heat. It is just about unbearable at times. I think that it is even hotter where we are working because it is right in amongst all these trains. The locomotives put off so much heat and there is nothing around but gravel and metal. I have never experienced a job quite like this. We had one boy get sick Friday and I heard from a buddy who works for a subcontractor who said they had 2 men fall out on their jobs. One guy was OK and later went back to work but the other one was taken off in an ambulance and last I heard, he had still not regained consciousness. Hopefully, it will cool off some next week.
In the photo above you can see that we have about finished the grading under the house to pour that slab. Allen has to do a little plumbing tomorrow for the washing machine and then I can start putting the poly and rebar down. Not sure when I'm going to pour but I need it to be soon! I'm not really able to do much inside the house right now due to lack of funds. I have done a lot that did not require much money but most of the stuff now is big ticket items, especially the things that will help me get moved in the house like flooring, tile etc. After I get through a couple of paychecks I should be able to resume buying material though.
This is a really cool rock I found today while we were doing some digging and clean up. The fossil part there looks like it was made from a piece of wood. Up close, you can see the grain form the wood and all. I know nothing about this sort of thing though. There were some smaller, similar places on the other side of the rock.

Edit: Oh, I forgot to tell you; we were also swarmed by honey bees at work one day! That was really bizarre! Several of us were working on some forms in one spot and all of a sudden we heard this low, weird noise and looked up. We were completely engulfed in a swarm of bees. They did not go down close to the ground however, so it was just like from the shoulders up. They seemed to just be flying in every crazy direction but still maintaining a cloud formation. We just sort of stood still and watched when we realized they were not going to hurt us and the bees slowly drifted off in a cloud. They seemed to be moving in a definite, straight line also. It was very cool.

Let's Go Get Stoned

Some of you may remember that title from an old Ray Charles song. I think that I have become obsessed with rocks lately. I look for them everywhere; I'm constantly searching for just the right rocks for my wall. I have plenty on my land but I want more...lots more. I have a huge pile that I have collected so far but I am fearful that it will not be enough. So, I am always dragging more home, digging around to unearth what I think might be a prize rock! Allen keeps hoping that I dig up a gold nugget about the size of a watermelon ( and I do too) but nothing like that so far. I have even been given rocks as gifts from those who know about my obsession. Some of them are pretty cool looking and I plan to lay them in a prominent location in the walls I'm going to build.

The roof is getting very close to completely finished now that the weather is cooperating some. We installed the ridge cap and some of the flashing under the clerestory windows etc. Then we ran out of screws so Allen ordered some more and decided to swap the edge trim we had for some with a lower profile he thought would look nicer. So, when that comes in, which should be this Thursday, we can complete the roof. We have finished stubbing out all the interior plumbing and so have been able to close up the bathroom walls. Allen got a water heater from the power company and we need to install that this weekend. Hopefully it will not operate a lot after I get my solar water system installed but it is needed now and will be a good storage tank later. Lots more to tell you about the next chance I get. I have been transferred to another job and we are doing concrete form work so I am pretty tired when I get home. This job is a little closer to the house though so I only have to get up at 4:15 a.m. now. Bleeh!

Loose Ends

Well, alot of stuff has been going on these past couple of weeks. I've been working so much I haven't had time to post much but here is a summary of some of what has happened. Allen finished framing and sheathing this end of the house so now it is completely framed except for a couple of small interior walls. The outside is ready for roofing and siding. We used up alot of scraps we had on this so that was good. I hate to waste material.
It's so neat to see on the inside! It actually looks like a house now! Now to start planning electrical and plumbing. Well, the next immediate thing is to get the permanent roof on but we are planning utilities too.
While Allen was working on that I got the backhoe! Those things are sooooo much fun. I started cutting the area that will be parking next to the house. I do pretty good but I am a little slow with the machine but I think I still made fair progress. This is not a really good shot; I don't think it really shows how much I cut and moved. I will have to build a retaining wall here at the front of this cut as it will be about 4 ft. into the hill there with a set of steps going up towards the house.
I also gathered up all the many piles of rocks that I have all over the property that has been accumulating for months and took them up to the house. You have to throw them in the bucket by hand but its great to just be able to dump them wherever you want them. I have a pretty good pile at the house but I fear its only going to be a drop in the bucket for what I need to build this wall.
I started clearing this area behind the house too in preparation for putting in a french drain at the base of the retaining/foundation wall here and backfilling this area. There will be a large flagstone patio and walk here that leads to the entrance to the house, which will be in the dogtrot part of the house. Which, of course, is just porch now and won't actually be a dogtrot until I build the other half of the house. Which hopefully will be in the not-to-distant future. If I survive this. I will be clearing quite a bit more here but leaving the bigger trees for shade. There are also a number of dogwood and redbud trees that I want to keep. I'm trying to keep lots of the native plants that are attractive and that also includes wild hydrangeas and ferns.

Here I Am

No photos today though; just a little update on what's been happening. I'll have some current photos shortly. We really didn't work on the house this past weekend so there wasn't much to show. We thought we should take more advantage of having a free backhoe so we did some more road and clearing work since we were kind of to a stopping point on the roof. Allen cleared the way that the water lines are going to run from the spring to the house and consolitated some brush piles that we have been trying to burn up and took them away from the front of the house so it looks much better. In the process, he uncovered many good rocks that I am going to need to build the wall under the house so we loaded 2 full backhoe buckets of rocks and took them up to the house.
On Sunday I went to a lecture that an architect presented here in town on passive solar houses. I didn't learn much but it was interesting to go to anyway and see that there is growing interest in the subject.
On another subject but still related to the house, I have been lent to another job that needed a carpenter for awhile so I am not on the Big House right now. The job I have been sent to is a branch of a children's hospital down here. Hospitals in Birmingham are big business and are constantly being renovated, which is what we are doing even though the hospital isn't 7 years old. Anyway, renovations mean they are tearing out and throwing away LOTS of stuff; great stuff if you are willing to deal with it. So, I have got enough insulation to do the entire house, 3 practically brand new bathroom sinks (Kohler no less), stainless steel lock sets and maybe some other stuff. The sinks even still have the fixtures on them but I will probably buy something a little more residential looking. Money is starting to get a little tight so this comes right in time and hopefully the insulation will not have to sit long before being installed. I wanted to buy the insulation that is available nowdays that is not made using formaldahyde but when you are offered completely free, basically new material it is hard to turn it down. It is a standard fiberglass bat-type roll insulation so it's good stuff. Maybe any fumes have already dissipated. Truely green materials can be very hard to come by in this area or too expensive for me to afford but I think it counts to reuse what you can because that saves any material (green or otherwise) from having to be manufactured, which is where alot of enviromental problems come from and plus the materials are not thrown in a landfill. It still pains me greatly to see how much is still thrown away. But if the owners of the buildings do not put it in the specs to recycle the materials, then it is rarely done.

Here Comes the Sun

Well, spring is slowly but surely pushing in. The weather has been great lately and lots of flowers are coming around. These are my first flowers at the house site to bloom. I love daffodils and narcissus and anything in that family. We cleared the land in front of the house underneath a large stand of sycamore trees and this is where I threw out about 2 dozen of these bulbs.


On an unrelated note, the other day Allen and I went searching for stone for a house he is building in Birmingham. Many of you have seen the posts here and on Rurality's blog about all the stone in this part of Alabama but even I didn't realize the extent of the different types available. There are several quarries and stone yards just down the road from us and these pics where taken at one of them. There are just acres of all kinds of stone in all different colors; its really cool. I guess I'm weird but I just drool over all these rocks and what you could build with them.

These were some of the more unusual ones we saw. I had never seen any stone around here like this before. These pics really don't do the color justice; they were much brighter. These had been sawn into tiles about 16"x 24" x 1" thick and were fairly smooth. They did not have many and I wasn't even going to bother to ask the price. Allen and I have been trying to think where we might could use a piece or two of this maybe as an accent or something. We could probably afford a little bit.
Here I was just trying to show a little better detail in that one stone. It appears to be some type of sandstone I think, so I don't know how well it would stand up to foot traffic.

Also, we received our first large delivery of lumber this morning for framing so hopefully I will have pics of that tomorrow or next day if the rain holds off. And by the end of next week I am supposed to have completed drawings of the house. Or very close. I can't wait!

Here, There and Everywhere

Posts about rocks are popular right now so I thought I'd show off some of my rocks! This rock is how we determined where the house was going to go. Sort of. I really liked it and it was in the general area that we knew we wanted the house so I said let's just position the house so that this rock will be near the entrance and we can see it when we are sitting out on the patio sipping mint juleps. Or whatever. It's nicer in the summer when the ferns are up and really green. The house will run length-wise by this rock and I thought a little water feature would be nice near it too.
Here you can kind of see where the rock sits in relation to the house.
Keep in mind that the rest of the house will continue on past where we stopped the wall at for now and also what most people would consider the back of the house is kinda the front. The house really won't have a definate front or back. The rock is near the top center of the photo. The ground level elevation at the base of that biggest tree over on the right is what I want the finish floor elevation in the house to be. So, all of that tore up dirt in between the tree and the wall will be filled in and flat. I have found a tremendous amount of flagstone on our land and will use that to build the patio here, upon which we will sip libations in the heat of the summer.
We have dup up tons of rocks everywhere! Big ones, little ones, flat ones, you name it. I am currently piling them up wherever there seems to be a concentration of them. Later I will use them to build the wall that will close off the underside of the house etc.
This is a small pile of the flagstone. Most of these came from the old dam and were placed around the spill way. I believe these were probably hauled in but maybe not. I need to gather alot more of these to have enough though.