I'm used to people feeling sorry for me because I'm old and don't get around real well. I've had helpers sneak up close when carrying a beam with me so that I don't get my fair share of the weight etc.

But today these guys pulled a fast one on me. It wasn't until we were well into it that I got it.

The way it's supposed to work is two men lay block, a block layer and a tender. Two men grade and finish the pour on the beam. And one man feeds the mixer with me helping him between delivering the concrete to the finishers.

Instead they had the tender help the mixer guy and there was nothing for me to do but shuttle concrete and materials as requir ed.

It took me awhile to figure out why once I got what they were doing. I think it was because at lunch I only ate half of a sandwich instead of my usual whole. I suspect they saw that as a sign I wasn't feeling well and realigned the work load to accomodate me.
Today we got the pier and column poured for the new deck.

Those pieces of rebar sticking out the top are what's left of seventeen feet.
We lined up all these rocks on the concrete portion of the pond.

We then explained that we needed volunteers to look good for a long time while clinging to a wall. They'd be either in the water most of the time or assigned to a location just above the water line.

It made us proud.

Some of them even raised two hands.
Here's looking across the pond at the north wall where the new terrace is going to be.
Here's a shot of the men who've made this happen. They're quite a collection and each one has specific talents that are invaluable to the project.
Besides the client we have us an inspector that shows up on occasion.
If you look closely at the crew you can see a little fear in their eyes.

Here's the reason for it.
The client and myself really appreciate the effort and skill these men have contributed to the project. So today I cranked the camera up to maximum pixels and took some group pictures and then a couple of individual pictures of each man with the wall as the background.

I took the memory stick to CVS and they walked me through editing and printing the photographs. Each man has a couple of pictures of the crew, the wall, one of themself with the wall in a 5X7.

They earned a little recognition and a momento to take home for the kids and wife.

The project isn't finished by a long shot.

But the wall is 95 percent complete including the rocking. Tomorrow we'll start doing the coping with the sandstone cap.
I will be concentrating on this area over the next week.

We have to get the wall completed and the deck placed. The deck will be sandstone slabs out to the column.

There's also the matter of doing the raising of the spill way and creating the water falls with it's bridge.
This might help with trying to grasp the scope of this project.

This shot is from the east looking west.
This is from above the north terrace looking across to where the rock deck and south terrace will be.
The plan is when we're done with the bottom of the pond I'll take the excavator and our road will become the top soil and fill behind the wall.

While we haven't changed the foot print of the pond, it's still it's original shape. We have drastically modified it's capacity. Which means according to a friend a serious tax advantage for the client because we've changed the gallonage retained during flood conditions.

These guys are day laborers. For some reason or another they're not part of the everyday workforce as most of us know it.

I pick them up every morning and I pay them every night. Our relationship is tenuous at best. I have no obligation to pick them in the morning and they have no obligation to accept my offer of employment.

What is disappointing to me is how others treat these men. To say I feel shame to share citizenship with some of these employers is an understatement.

But of course there is some reward for me in this. What some see only as a body to guide a mower I've had the good fortune in finding an artisan who has taught me how to work stone.

One of the men has done hard time. Not something we've talked about, he knows I know by the way I've checked him over. He also understands that I don't judge him so much for what he has done as I do by what he can do. His treating me as boss has modified to over the last couple of weeks where he now treats me as a friend is as gratifying to me as any aspect of the project.

I understand it's egotistical of me but I see finding good in a man not unlike finding good in a stone or a piece of wood. Most people look at a stone and see nothing but a rock. They makes judgements about people just as quickly and without anymore consideration.

It's their loss. And there is some justice in the outcome. Their life is poorer, as it should be.

I've been asked via PM (private message) about drilling holes in stone. It's such a good question that I believe we need to share it.

Here's what I've found out about it.

1. I use regular concrete bits. Well, I say "regular" and what I mean is "regular Hilti bits".

We've found out your bits you buy at the hardware store will drill ten to twelve half inch holes three quarters of an inch deep in our granite boulders we're mounting on the wall. The Hilti equivelant will drill at least ten times that many. At Home Depot the Bosch bit is about seven dollars and the Hilti (in the rental department) is thirty six dollars.

I have an account at Hilti and pay about twenty for the same bit.

2. Granite is the hardest stone I've dealt with. Sandstone is much softer and limestone is a piece of cake.

3. I use a two part epoxy I get at granite countertop supply stores for attaching the pin to the stone. But on this project I'm using a polyurethane product from Home Depot. It seems to work just fine. It costs a lot less but the working time is hours instead of minutes like I have with the expoxy.

4. Stone isn't like wood. With wood you can use a pin just a little bigger than the hole and it'll make a better fit. If you attempt to do this with stone you'll discover the secret they had back in the old days for splitting rock. So for a three eights pin it's better to use a seven sixteenths hole and your adhesive than three eights and three eights.

5. I use a grinder and special disc to prepare stone surfaces for contact. By that I mean I remove bumps and bulges if applicable or cut in corresponding dips and valleys to make two pieces fit.

I noticed in the rental department at Home Depot they now carry the grinders and discs.

6. You really don't gain much besides tool wear and personal frustration from going deep with the pins and their holes. One inch is usually all you need if you're basically using the pin as a dowel.

7. And this is probably the most important tip I have. Listen to the stone.

The stone itself knows more about what works and even more importantly, what works well together. If you listen you'll know what I'm talking about.
I would initially discourage you from attempting to drill through the stones. Think of a deer after a thirty odd six round passes through. Hole on one side, great big hole on the other.

To go through the stone you'll be using a hammer drill. The hammer action fractures the stone as it gets near the far side.

You can use this to your benefit if you want. If your stones are football or round shaped the blowout area can be the bottom and the cavity will be the start of a hollow to assist in fit up on top of the next stone.

The large boulders in the pond will be drilled all the way through so that the water tubing for the fountains can feed the heads. I will go through with a three quarter inch bit as a pilot. Then I'll take a one inch through from the top and a one and a half from the bottom. The three foot three quarter inch Hilti bit cost me around two hundred dollars. You can bet your sweet bippy I'll be doing those holes with a soft hand and tender heart.

I think the polyurethane adhesive from Home Depot will work just fine in your benches.

If I were building them I'd fit the stones up against each other as best as I could. I'd then drill them in about an inch and use rebar pins.

This means many dry fits to get it as close to being as good as it gets as one can to being as good as it gets.

Also keep in mind that stone is brittle. Vibration and impacts are the two ways we fracture it. So no hammering after it's glued up.

I'll be doing benches on the rock deck next week or early the week after. The benches will be on the deck going out over the water.

Here's one of the rocks I'm planning on using for the deck. I asked Dawg to stand on the stone to give you an idea of it's size.
The stones for the deck are going to be a challenge to fit up. Not just because they're different shapes, but they're also different thicknesses.

And they're heavy.
Last night when I got in my system was down so I just surfed a minute and then crashed.

This morning I was fine but the network was down, hence no pictures.

Yesterday morning, north terrace-patio-deck, etc.
Yesterday evening, same place.
Tonight at quitting time.
This is what the east side terrace looked like yesterday morning.
Then yesterday evening after they had the rebar ran.
It took forty five mixer loads to the east side beam, total of about a hundred feet. We started the mixer after lunch.
Then yesterday evening after they had the rebar ran.
The north side patio-deck-terrace is going to pretty when it's done.

Today we got the block laid.

Three of them laid it out and put down the first course before lunch. After lunch one man finished it. I mean finished it. I brought him sand and cement and block as he needed it. He mixed his own mud, cut his own block, did it all himself, by himself.

Tomorrow we'll put up the stone facing, grout, and maybe be cope it.

Hopefully before the weekend we'll get the big slabs of sandstone in to make the walkway up to the trail above the terrace. We also hope to have the flagstone deck complete by then. Of course before we lay down the flagstone we'll have to put down the concrete for it to lay on.