Hard work, just like Grampa used to do.

At last, we've had some decent weather! I've never seen so much rain in August, it was really unexpected. I only wonder what fall and winter will be like this year, if spring and summer were this messed up.

My friends were come and gone, and, unfortunately, I didn't get the entire project finished like I'd hoped to. We had one and a half days rained out, and we really could have used a cement mixer! We were mixing cement plaster for the walls by hand, in a wheelbarrow, which is tiring work. With a mixer, we could have one person mixing a batch while the other two throw plaster on the wall with trowels or shovels.

This was my last day off of this week, and I spent almost the entire day doing plaster! I mixed it in a wheelbarrow, only this time it was just me doing it. I still managed to get a lot of plaster on the wall, probably about 300 lbs of it in total. I have to use a lot more plaster, because the wall is so thick at the bottom. It has to support the weight of the earth behind it, and some of the building weight, so I'm not holding back on plaster.


When my friends left, we had about a foot of plaster at the bottom. I added everything else, almost to the top, just today by myself. Needless to say, I am very tired! If you look closely at the bottom of the picture, you can see that the excavation has about 6 inches of water pooled in it. We have a piece of plywood under the water, which makes work much easier, but it's going to be difficult to get the plywood out later, especially with all the water over it! I used the water on the bottom to mix the cement with, saving me from using the hose.

This is how much we completed before the rainy day spoiled our fun. I've almost run out of sand, which is quite amazing, since I had an entire truck box full!

Going even further back in time, before any plaster was placed.


When we get a mixer, I expect to be able to plaster around 4 times faster, even by myself. The local hardware store sells an electric mixer for about $350, so I will purchase one tommorow or within the next week. Renting one is $32 per day, and I need this thing a LOT, so buying it just makes more sense! I might even advertise myself out to do small cement jobs in town, if the demand is there. Cement is really quite easy, when you have a mixer!

Once we get a little financing from the bank, we can really take off with this project. I haven't been able to get going without any money, unfortunately. I still need a lot of gravel, and about 3 yards of concrete to complete the foundation, as well as a Bobcat and another day with the excavator. I'm looking forward to starting the framing, which I can do anytime now. The framed pieces will simply sit around and wait for the foundation!

On the garden side, my broccoli just LOVES this weather, and recovered quite well from the hail, but the cucumbers did not do very well at all. Some of them will produce a few cukes, but nothing like they could have! I do have about a dozen little tiny tomatoes, which ought to mature by the end of August.