Back to Work!!

Wow, that was a painful week. I've been itching to start moving earth, filling in holes, laying stone. But the rains of the last week made such a mucky muck of it all. Then the freezing temps. This morning, there was still a remnant of the pond, but I only have so many non-(paying) work days. Time to get back at it!

This morning, the temperature was 22 degrees. Spring in St Louis -- I may as well be in Buffalo, NY. It never got above 35. So I dressed in layers: tank top, t-shirt, sweat shirt, jacket. Three pairs of socks. Jeans, shorts, other stuff. I thought about two pair of gloves, but that became too restrictive. Hat --- of course. By the end of the day, layers were removed, replaced, removed. You get the drill. In the end, hard work is the best for keeping warm.

The rains had made a mess of my excavation job ........... all the edges were starting to collapse a bit. So the first job was to redefine the borders. After that I fired up my trusty tiller and loosened up the path bed. Raked to level, stomped down, removed earth where necessary. Looking good!

One step forward, two steps back. The two steps back were the past week and I corrected those this morning. The afternoon work was definitely a step forward. The base material (Semco 3/8" Minus - landscaping rock) has been put in place. It's looking pretty good (104 bags of the 142). But it was 8:00 and getting dark when I finished. I'm thinking another 10 bags in the morning will get it to where it needs to be. Then I can start laying the stone. RATS! I have to get the stone to the backyard first.