No pics - though there are some to post....the camera is in the construction trailer, which we locked up yesterday in the middle of a big storm. It was a little too muddy to go back to retrieve it.
Thomas stayed home on Friday and worked with his dad on leveling the first layer. When I got home, it was looking good. So we added a second course of block and rebar and wired it all up. Things were looking nice and level and plumb, so we applied the liquid nails where we needed and let it set up.
Saturday morning I made a quick grocery store run in the morning before we got too dirty. The third course went up pretty quickly, and then discussions about scaffolding got serious. Mostly I tried to stay out of the boys' way. They built up the scaffolding bases while I cleaned the kitchen, made iced tea for the trailer fridge...really serious things. As the bases were ready, I carried them into the hole, and soon they were all ready to be stabilized and placed. We carried some of our floor joists down to hold up our walkways and then prepared the decking for the west side. Thomas has no problem on narrow walkways - all his days on narrow booms working on cranes. I know it is not so high I couldn't jump off, but there is some latent fear - maybe a throwback to rolling off the bed as a baby and breaking my leg. Regardless, I did walk along it, and it wasn't too bad, though Thomas accurately observed that as the wall grows up along side it, it isn't as scary.
We were pretty pooped on Saturday after a full day of work, but after mass on Sunday, we began again. After we hauled some more block over, Thomas and I laid the rest of the decking and then added a couple extra braces for stability. I got up and made the loop, but then wasn't so keen on him running across them chasing me. Yikes! Pop showed up just in time to see Tom's antics. The next course went up without much fanfare, and we were able to lay the rebar in place. Great scaffolding! Next we braced the outside with what will be the roof decking later. This is a most important element of securing the blocks from the mighty Miami wind, especially since we will be away at work during the week. As we worked, we watched a storm blow in and past and around and, finally, right into us. We had gratefully gotten the last screws in place and the equipment out of the hole before it crashed into us. Tom and I had cut 40 ft of sheeting to cover our scaffolding when it hit. We were under the carport while the wind flew in from the south and blew over us, showering the yard with a lot of hail. All we could think about was the mud and soupiness of the hole. We held out, and it let up. The staple gun made quick work of laying the sheeting down, and we made it back across the property in our shoes caked with inches of mud. Bummer that the screen door window let a bunch of water into the mud room, but it didn't take long before we were clean, warm, and dry.
A busy weekend on the house, and we plan to pour the basement walls on Saturday! Hopefully all will work out. The rain came down through the night, and tired as I was, I couldn't sleep for imagining the hole filling up with water and the bindweed storing up enough water to take over any remaining unclaimed territory. Really, the rain was much needed! And I won't complain for the wonderful smell of fresh rain or the way everything just felt fresher. I am not feeling as sore as I expected today. I figured that I got up and down from the scaffolding at least 30 times and had to crouch underneath at least a dozen to get in and out of the hole. A whole other kind of exercise routine!
Oh, and no puddle jumping - the ground just soaked it right up! Only good puddles for jumping are out on the highway...
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