After many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many delays, Tammy Walsh (owner of Green Mountain Landscaping and stone wall builder extraordinaire) and Roy Kinsley (one of her well-muscled employees) got here at 9:30 to continue the stone wall building projects that we had hoped to have finished last November. First on the agenda was to extend the stone wall on the west (back yard) side of the house another 27 feet to the north, then around the northwest corner of the lawn for another 21 feet. We got about half that wall built before quitting time, with much “help” from Dino, our very rambunctious 2½ year old reverse brindle Tennessee treeing hound, who joined our family in February by way of the local animal rescue shelter. Dino’s contribution was to bring us every single stick from the woods adjoining the wall where we were working. You’ll note in the photos that the tractor / backhoe that Tammy is operating looks suspiciously like mine. That’s ‘cause it is, hers being at the doctor presently undergoing major surgery after an accident last week (the reason for one of the many, many…). While the wall building was ongoing, Roy took an hour to put Type S (stands for Strong) cement into the many places on the patio where the polymeric sand (that holds all the pavers in place) had washed out of the paver joints. Those included most of the joints that Tammy and Geryll Robinson had repaired almost exactly a year ago. Obviously, polymeric sand does not hold up when subjected to a concentrated deluge, such a often exits under the roof valley and rain diverters. Nate Clert (Tammy’s nephew and longtime employee) brought us a load of A-stone at noon. Putting that crushed stone inside the wall where building rocks don’t quite touch and behind the lawn-side of the wall provides for water drainage, obviating any hydraulic pressure on the wall.
