so far so good.
napped through the heat. got my worksite all prepared in the daylight.
got the sprinkler moving around...
gonna eat me some noodles and go dive into the porch...
@Rockhead,
try not to dive the same way you did last time
those posts about mebbe a broken leg are NOT good
@ehBeth,
this is the first day that I am really able to carpenter fully. I still can't squat...
but I gotta hurry up.
smoky has to come home next Thursday.
Is he ready and able?
nope...
is he out of money to pay?
you betcha...
gonna be a long week, methinks.
ok, I think my head is clear enough to start running the saw now.
I have a number of precision cuts to make tonight. it's been a long time since I built a project of this size. in fact, the last deck I built was for free as well...
for my then attorney and his family.
this one is much fancier, there is no female approval necessary in it. just whatever I wanna build.
making the plant hangers tonight also, so I can get his plants going and thriving before he gets home.
it's just windy enough that my tiki torches are trying to blow out. maybe it will calm down some around midnight...
not having a helper is gonna complicate some of the overhead work.
but I'll get there, I promise...
lunch time...
bbq pulled pork sammiches, salad, and tots.
porch is looking good. got my concrete forms all built and my sand in...
I've been studying my tank valve while I settle my grumpy guts...
gonna try and make my automatic chicken waterer work. I stole a rain barrel from mr vw. gotta make a custom hose, and a bracket holder. maybe before bedtime, maybe tonight after I get going again.
for now it's back to the porch. the sky is starting to lighten. dawn will be here soon...
yeah.
some precision cuts are best left for daylight. tiki torchlight is deceiving...
finishing up what needs doing. then gonna put a final watering to the garden.
got a lot accomplished last night. maybe I can get my system used to this schedule and actually be productive for a stretch...
all of my upper structure is done.
don't think I'm not glad...
12 foot long 2x6's 10 feet in the air is a bitch by myself. and they are level...
gonna try and get up in time to go to the yumber lard. I want some extra concrete in case my measurements are optimistic. If I need 1 more bag that I don't have, it's a long way in...
which means I gotta wait until noon to go bed. damn country banks anyways.
doing laundry whilst I wait...
damnit.
They open at 1:00.
this never bothered me before...
so I'm boiling up a shower.
and filling fish tanks.
gonna be a short night...
made it to the lumber yard with 5 minutes to spare. got 4 more bags o' concrete mix (just in case) and some more firkin deck $crew$...
what a racket is that...
they put some special paint on them and jack the price all crazy like. and give you a 10 year warranty that I would bet is virtually impossible to collect unless you are a major contractor with major legal muscle...
$9 a pound.
I could have lobster...
anyways, tonight is still concrete night, but some of the urgency is off due to the weather. maybe less than triple digits tomorrow...
time for a cuppa.
welp...
that concrete ain't gonna pout itself...
several of my associates have offered advice (no assistance, mind you, just advice) my neighbor said, "you know, when I had mine done, I just called over to Colwich and ordered a small batch on a truck". and mr vw said, "you know, when we did ours, we just rented a mixer and made it on site."
but I have a wheel barrow, and a hoe, and a hose from the well, and just barely enough cash to buy enough concrete to make what I want...
and all night to get it done.
Ima go turn on the spotlights and get stuff laid out. it was much easier yesterday when I did it in the fading sunlight...
set the sprinkler into it's nightly rotation. and stopped to check on the chickens...
I gotta get a big waterer built...
I put a 2 gallon pan out there for now. they go through the pair o' one gallon hamster waterers now in less than a day...
and I need an assistant so I can take half of them to crazy larry. catching chickens is not one of my better skills. and they are flying now. kinda wild...
he has 4 or 5 different exotic chickens going. and one helluva brand new custom chicken house.
Ima rebuild mine one of these days.
in my spare time...
hmmmm.
it is still very sultry.
and now they are saying 103 again tomorrow...
oh well.
got my remesh in the forms. hadda break out the bolt cutters. my poor old hands were cramping trying to use side cutters...
I think in the morning, Ima go run over to gram's and change her fire alarm batteries. and bring her some cherries. (they are on sale as cheap as they get, for as long as they last) the incessant chirping is making her verra cranky. and a cranky gram severely tests my limited patience...
then I don't plan on leaving the farm until Monday.
and Ima sleep until I feel like getting up. with the phone off.
had my water break, back to pouring concrete...
urf...
might be a good thing I'm doing concrete tonight. I still feel mostly lousy. and concrete is not rocket science...
I got my floating bolts located and secured.
I'm ready to pour as soon as I can get unwonky...
pad's poured...
somewhere along the way my wonkiness subsided a bit.
I can't believe it, I even found my concrete edging tool. I can't say when the last time I edged a walk, but by god, this pad is gonna look pro-fessional before I'm done.
off to float it...
there is a reason I don't make my living finishing concrete...
but we now have a nice broom finished semi-circle pad.
(I gave up with the float...)
and I took some pictures. I remembered to charge some batteries last night...
it looks very nice for an amateur.
and smoky's $500 is getting him a lot more porch than he bargained for.
gotta water his new hanging baskets I made while he was home for the holiday, then Ima change outta my concrete duds and go see gram.
she is still having a hard time grasping the work nights / sleep days thing...
but we're going shopping anyways. she's out of milk and bananas.
and the smoke alarm is making her start to curse.
I can count on one hand the times I've heard her utter a curse word. so batteries are being picked up on the way...
and I had enough concrete.
I should trust my judgement more often maybe. maybe not...
now I have enough to pour another walkway section if he wants me to.
I hate to cart them back to the yumber lard, they're firkin heavy...
but there is a miniscule chance for rain on Sunday, so I gotta do something with them. sure as hell if I leave them out, we'll get a gully washer...
@Rockhead,
Got my lattice framed, Rock, by two guys who were working on a roof next to my house. I was thrilled when I came home and found that they had done it.
