28 April 2011

Oh, well, ‘tis April in Vermont, which means more rain today.  There had better be a ton of flowers in May…  In spite of steady showers, worked on the thirteenth and fourteenth courses in the seven sections of between-columns walls that will be totally underground (i.e., under the driveway).  Used the diamond bladed Skillsaw, sledgehammers, cold chisels, and my rock hammer extensively to “encourage” many misshapen rocks to fit where I wanted them.  Just as I was headed back out to work after lunch a tremendous downpour arrived… rain came down so hard it even made puddles, a very rare event because the soils here are so porous (glacial till).  Decided maybe this would be a good time to do some ancillary shed design drawings.  As a consequence, didn’t get the final rocks dry laid until 2 o’clock.  Looked like the weather was breaking, so decided to start parging.  Needless to say, Mother Nature was just teasing.  Do you know what the difference is between good, strong mortar mix and cement soup?  Answer: a few drops of water… which was supplied in buckets just as I finished mixing up the third batch of mud.  On a positive note, the sun was shining brightly while my mortar was getting soaked, so there was a nice rainbow.