11 July 2018

Started work taking apart the concrete forms at the very reasonable hour of 8:30 (that last phrase for Sean’s benefit… keep reading to find out why).  While in the midst of removing the 2x12 forms, stakes, and other wood paraphernalia, the man himself arrived.  We spent an hour going over the barn building plans… and catching up on happenings over the past two years.  Sean found nothing wrong with the plans (whew!).  We also talked about the scope of work Goose Creek will do and who Sean will send down to help with the carpentry… hopefully starting next Monday morning.  Then the bad news: Goose Creek still starts work at 7 am.  Gaak!  So much for the no-alarm-clock retired life!  Soon after Sean left, just as I was about to start snipping the form ties (they have to be cut to release the pressure on the steel rods that hold the forms in place so that said rods and forms can be removed), Victor and Karl arrived… about 3 hours before I was expecting them.  With the three of us working, the rest of the forms came down quickly.  About noon-thirty, Larry and Kyle also pulled in to help finish loading all the Long Ridge material onto the trucks.  By shortly after 1, the concrete crew was gone and I started breaking off form ties. (Once the forms are off two very sharp (I have scars to prove it) metal ends protrude from the concrete; those have to be broken off flush with the wall using a hammer… and a bit of technique, which I learned during the house construction.)  After an hour of hammer swinging all the ties on the inside walls were gone… and my right forearm was completely cramped.  Guess I’d better add swinging a hammer side to side to my gym workout routine!  Finished the day lying in the sun sucking down a G&T cleaning up stray concrete and generally getting the floor slab clean enough to eat off.  Mr. Type A strikes again!   …and, yes, the G&T and BBQ chicken (cooked over a wood fire) did go down rather easily come dinnertime.