Thursday, October 16, 2014
Barn progress: house wrap...
The masons' dogs...
The masons' dogs... Each of the masons has two dogs, and they bring the dogs with them on their jobs. That means for the past couple of days I've had the pleasure of having four well-loved, happy, playful dogs running around my yard. I miss my dogs terribly (they're still in Jamul with Debbie, though hopefully not for long!), so this unexpected “dog infusion” was a pure delight for me. Here's some photos of these guys:
Fireplace progress...
Fireplace progress... The masons got the entire facade in place today. The striking will be done later this afternoon, after the mortar sets up a bit. I watched them for a couple of hours as the put the last pieces in place – finding rocks to fit the last holes was quite a laborious process, and involved a bit of grinding to knock the edges off some of them. It was a pleasure to watch these two work together. Despite the difference in age (24 and 63), they worked together like a team that had spent their whole life together.
Randy B. (the older fellow) and I are traveling to Tremonton this evening. We're visiting a rock vendor there, hoping to find us some good hearth stone. The original selection we made is out of stock now. Assuming we succeed, tomorrow the hearth will go on.
Once the mortar everywhere has had a chance to cure, they'll be finishing up with an acid wash (to remove mortar streaks) and a plain water rinse. Once that dries, they'll be applying a coat of satin finish sealer, which will make the rocks look like they're damp – and that makes the colors “pop”.
The photos below are in time order, which makes it easy to see the progress they made during the day. The last photo shows all the leftover rock we have – roughly 35 square feet worth. They need this extra in order to be assured that they can find rocks of the right size and shape as they go. It's really beautiful rock, so we're going to have to find a use for all that :)
Randy B. (the older fellow) and I are traveling to Tremonton this evening. We're visiting a rock vendor there, hoping to find us some good hearth stone. The original selection we made is out of stock now. Assuming we succeed, tomorrow the hearth will go on.
Once the mortar everywhere has had a chance to cure, they'll be finishing up with an acid wash (to remove mortar streaks) and a plain water rinse. Once that dries, they'll be applying a coat of satin finish sealer, which will make the rocks look like they're damp – and that makes the colors “pop”.
The photos below are in time order, which makes it easy to see the progress they made during the day. The last photo shows all the leftover rock we have – roughly 35 square feet worth. They need this extra in order to be assured that they can find rocks of the right size and shape as they go. It's really beautiful rock, so we're going to have to find a use for all that :)
More fireplace rock microscopy...
More fireplace rock microscopy... The left photo is the sawed side, freshly exposed (the streaks are the saw marks); the right photo is the weathered side. Both are at 60x...
Most cops are good people trying their best to do a hard job...
Most cops are good people trying their best to do a hard job ... but certainly not all of them. Something is very wrong with our institutions when this kind of behavior can flourish unpunished – and it is...
Hamamelis virginiana...
Hamamelis virginiana... Otherwise known as “witch hazel”. Via BPOD, of course. My morning laugh: my spell checker wanted to correct “Hamamelis” to “Shameless”...
What Obama policies would Mark Udall oppose?
What Obama policies would Mark Udall oppose? Why, he can't think of any!
Of course he can't.
I freely admit to a satisfying sense of schadenfreude when I watch the Democrats running in 2016 trying to pry themselves away from any association with Obama. “Toxic” is the word they're using for Obama. It's a damned shame we have to endure him for eight years before the ignorant, fact-avoiding electorate figures that out...
Of course he can't.
I freely admit to a satisfying sense of schadenfreude when I watch the Democrats running in 2016 trying to pry themselves away from any association with Obama. “Toxic” is the word they're using for Obama. It's a damned shame we have to endure him for eight years before the ignorant, fact-avoiding electorate figures that out...
Philae's primary landing spot...
Free USGS topo maps...
Free USGS topo maps... I'm a bit of a map freak, but somehow this totally escaped me. I found it through this post, which has more useful information...
“This makes Parisians' treatment of American tourists look good in comparison.”
My reaction: what the hell is wrong with the other 60%! This seems like an easy choice to me: my dogs are far more important to me than the vast majority of humanity. Far more worthy, in most respects, too. The moral choice is to save my dog!
The general reaction: what the hell is wrong with that 40%! I find this utterly appalling. They'd let their dog, whom they love, die to save some random person with whom they have no connection? That seems highly immoral to me.
The study. Huffington Post discussion. Wall Street Journal discussion.