Tuesday morning, 23 September 2008

Good morning,

After a long night, the internet connection is still running a fever, so I’m going to make this quick. We finished the foundation walls Saturday and started excavating the dirt from the interior of the walls today.

I thought I’d bring you up to date on the poles, and then let you see what happened Monday. I hope you week is going as well as ours, if not as dirty. Here goes.

$We braced the poles with 1x6 boards and secured them in place with building stones and made 18\" wooden forms at the base of each pole$ We braced the poles with 1x6 boards and secured them in place with building stones and made 18\" wooden forms at the base of each pole

Then wheelbarrowed concrete to each one,

and shoveled it in

until it was full.

Then vibrated the air pockets out

and let them set up for a couple of days.

We had this after we took the forms off.

$And then we built the courses of stone right up to each post, running mukua, the flat, very strong ribbon steel between each course of stone and nailing it to the post. Good earthquake and other disturbance protection. The mukua is also known by another name, which for the longest time I couldn\'t figure out. Oop-ee-row was what I was hearing, until finally I figure out the other name was \"hoop iron.\"$ And then we built the courses of stone right up to each post, running mukua, the flat, very strong ribbon steel between each course of stone and nailing it to the post. Good earthquake and other disturbance protection. The mukua is also known by another name, which for the longest time I couldn\'t figure out. Oop-ee-row was what I was hearing, until finally I figure out the other name was \"hoop iron.\"

The foundation walls came up

until they reached the level at which we were going to pour the slab.

Then we made flat wooden forms around each pole and cemented their futures for good.

$This is what things looked like Monday morning. The poles were all in place and the foundation walls were finished, all at the level of the slab we are going to pour. Because the ground slants downward, away, in this picture, the wall at the far end looks higher, but it\'s not.$ This is what things looked like Monday morning. The poles were all in place and the foundation walls were finished, all at the level of the slab we are going to pour. Because the ground slants downward, away, in this picture, the wall at the far end looks higher, but it\'s not.

Now we needed to excavate the black cotton soil in the interior of the foundation walls. We wanted this to be piece work, so we chalked off sections and gave each one a certain value, depending on its size.

Some bigger than others.

The guys chose their plot and went to work,

hacking away at the hard stuff.

$I had to leave with Raphael, the Bedford driver, to find a quarry nearby that sold sawn stones. I wasn\'t satisfied with the quality of the soil bricks we made and didn\'t really have time to get a new source of soil and do the testing, so we\'ve decided to build the kitchen out of stone. Probably a good choice anyway because of the water, etc. So we found the quarry after a small goose chase and these two guys minding the storage container there.$ I had to leave with Raphael, the Bedford driver, to find a quarry nearby that sold sawn stones. I wasn\'t satisfied with the quality of the soil bricks we made and didn\'t really have time to get a new source of soil and do the testing, so we\'ve decided to build the kitchen out of stone. Probably a good choice anyway because of the water, etc. So we found the quarry after a small goose chase and these two guys minding the storage container there.

Some of the first shots with the new camera.

This is the old section of the quarry. A machine on rails cuts the stone right out of the ground and then you drive your truck down there and they load it up with stones hot off the press.

Those little ant-like things on top are huge bulldozers and dump trucks.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the excavation was going well.

The wheelbarrows were getting filled

$and then rolled over our ingenious bridge. The wall is very fragile at this point and can\'t be disturbed until the concrete cures, about a week. So Gilbert and Isaiah built this bridge which allows the wheelbarrows to go over the wall with touching or disturbing it. That\'s Benson watering the walls, not so they\'ll get taller, but so they will cure properly. Three times a day for seven days. The hose is on a gravity feed from one of our barrels.$ and then rolled over our ingenious bridge. The wall is very fragile at this point and can\'t be disturbed until the concrete cures, about a week. So Gilbert and Isaiah built this bridge which allows the wheelbarrows to go over the wall with touching or disturbing it. That\'s Benson watering the walls, not so they\'ll get taller, but so they will cure properly. Three times a day for seven days. The hose is on a gravity feed from one of our barrels.

A closer look at our Golden Gate.

The dirt gets dumped in big piles all around the perimeter. We will eventually use it for landscaping. Making berms and such.

$One of the only times I\'ve ever seen a Kenyan work with his shirt off. This picture may go some way to explaining why.$ One of the only times I\'ve ever seen a Kenyan work with his shirt off. This picture may go some way to explaining why.

The guys would pick-axe or mattock the stuff loose

and then shovel it into one of the wheelbarrows

$or, if they\'re close enough, fling it to the other side of the wall, where it would get moved back and piled.$ or, if they\'re close enough, fling it to the other side of the wall, where it would get moved back and piled.

We had to modify a rubber bushing so we could get the left front shock absorber back on. It had fallen off a while back.

And we finally made it.

Benson went back to his watering,

and the guys kept picking and shoveling

and wheelbarrowing

Off to meet with the architect and see an Italian dermatologist.

A presto,

David

Comments(13)

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Chris says
September 23, 2008 at 1:53 am

Ok, I’ll bite. Why the Italian dermatologist? Or maybe, embarrassingly, I’ve forgotten some very obvious thing.

Damn, I’m suddenly finding my back aching, just sitting here, looking into the photos on this computer screen. That’s alot of rock to dig and haul.
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david says
September 23, 2008 at 9:17 am

CL,

This particular Italian dermatologist is the same one who quoted Dante while I was sitting without a stitch on in his exam room for about half an hour while he looked for irregularities on my surface layer, skin cancer and the like, about a year ago.. Today I have some kind of disturbance on my shoulder/back, a boil or some such. But I didn’t get to see him, he was called to surgery, and I found out, he’s a plastic guy, not a dermatologist, but close enough in these parts.

My back hurts from sleeping on the wrong kind of bed, let alone this sort of activity. But I’m counteracting that with pretty regular sun salutations, and oddly enough, when I pick up a shovel or pick axe and forget myself for a while, my back forgets to complain for a while.

When are you and Debi launching out, or have I missed the champagne bottle broken on the prow?

David
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Pat Gustorf says
September 23, 2008 at 10:44 pm

Wow Dave! I am so impressed with the progress. Thinking good thoughts for you and your Italian doctor appt. Back to correcting papers!
Pat
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Chris says
September 24, 2008 at 12:52 am

Pat, I’m making my own sun salutations to you right now as you correct those papers. As our confrere Dave might chime in, the three of us have put in enough time with that correcting to ward off a few Dantean purgatorial years.

And David, though on a different continent and bodily frame, that archetypal butt-crack reminds me of one of our erstwhile coaching friends. What an image to be memorialized by, I tell myself…

To get Debi’s and my itinerary, I’m going to still coerce you into re-entering the nether realm of that “on-line salon” I’ve been badgering you about.
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Peggy says
September 24, 2008 at 7:27 am

David — Be careful of your back. Just because you are working along side those amazing Kenyan backs doesn’t mean that you have one too. The work those men do indicates that their backs work like those of Joyce and the other women tilling the soil.

What a sight those foundation walls are as the dirt is cleared away!

As always, your photos and comments tell such a story.
Peggy
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martin says
September 24, 2008 at 5:02 pm

tell that cat to put his shirt back on. i can see right down his malebolge.

martin
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Chris says
September 25, 2008 at 2:15 am

Martin, that was brilliant…
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david says
September 25, 2008 at 7:02 am

Hi Pat,

Your good thoughts keep us afloat. Never got to see the doc. All seems well.

Love to Jon and the kids.

David
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david says
September 25, 2008 at 7:07 am

Chris,

I remember acting as a Japanese screen during timeouts to preserve what we could of modesty.

A more lovable full moon…I can’t think of one.
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david says
September 25, 2008 at 7:25 am

My dear Martin,

Five or six times today, at least, I’ve laughed out loud after reading your comment. And I think of the pilgrim and his guide and, and what seems now more than ever to me, their raw courage at certain junctures. How did they do it???

Unfortunately, I have solid proof, but not the will to post it, that re-shirting himself was not the remedy, at least not with a cropped tank top.

With averted eyes,

David
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david says
September 25, 2008 at 7:29 am

Peggy,

I have so many internal reminders that my back was made in the USA, a long time ago, that forgetting is, regrettably, impossible. But being around so many that weren’t, it’s tempting to reframe things. But without any real success so far.

I love the empty chambers too.

David
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Ed Richardson says
September 28, 2008 at 10:08 pm

Dave,

Great job with the work you’ve accomplished! But why are you digging down after laying foundation and walls? Isn’t it easier to build walls up?

I know there must be an easy explanation. Frost line?

Let me know in case anyone asks me and keep on with the great work.

Ed Richardson
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david says
September 29, 2008 at 8:50 am

HI Ed,

I know it seems nutty, but after laying the footings and building the foundation walls, we have to excavate all the black cotton soil in the middle. Otherwise the expansion and contraction of the black soil will crack the walls and the 4′ slab which, by the grace of God, we hope to pour later this week. This black soil is like a sub(terranean) prime loan.

Good question. Good mind. Love to Dottie.

Cheers,

David

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