Stones and Boulders

The stone masons are finally on the job and the chimney got a coat of "faux" Eldorado stones that look almost real. It took us a long time to come to grips with the fact that using real stones was not a realistic option out here. The pillars at the front entry are getting their shaped footing which will be faced with the same faux stone.

The wood porch gets a stone treatment ... masons around here don't seem to quite grasp the concept of laying stone such that it appears structural (like a Bucks County barn for instance) ... so it will be a challenge for our guys to lay visually convincing stones for us ... we are hoping for the best and trying to guide them along without getting under their skin.

Meanwhile, the roofer was back this week to finish off the shop roof and tie it in to the house roof. Tim has a magnificent shaper machine that takes in roll stock at one end and spits out shaped panels at the other.

My Volvo garage under the kitchen requires a retaining wall to hold the dirt bank up and big boulders will do the job nicely. This gigunda clawed monster is on site for a couple days to accomplish the task.

For fun stuff this week we (and Krispin) and some of the Eureka Ranch neighbors cleaned the Hoosier Ditch again. This is an annual rite of early summer when the snow melt has reached a sufficient momentum. The water gate on the source creek is opened up to allow a prescribed flow into our ditch. It's a seven mile (approx.) hike cleaning debris out of the dug channel to bring water our way. Water rights are a deadly serious issue around here, but for us it is mostly a historical anachronism, a remnant of the bygone old west. In the pictures are Dom and Wendy our good friends and neighbors here ... it could just as well be us for we all worked together, it was just that I happened to have the camera.

And lastly, Krispin found a beautiful and perfectly intact Indian arrow head on the property when he was sauntering around in the woods behind the house. It is the first white one we have seen here. Boy was he surprised!