Mud Slingin'

We got a slow start yesterday. Due to some unforeseen problemas, things had to be redone from last week’s stucco. It is difficult to explain, but the insulation that we put on the east and south sides of the house caused lumps (weak spots) in the stucco process. We had to go back and re-do some of the south side of the house. In the photo you can see the part of the stucco that dried from last week and the part that is wet from being redone - leaving a dry part that looks a bit like a human in the wall. Anyway, we went back and added more nails to hold the insulation down better. The good news was that Joseph came to help. Yes, he is cute, but more importantly, he is strong. He is also smart, picks up on things quickly, and does well with construction work. He was great to work with. He is very talented – much like his sisters – several who have been my art students. Joseph may have some art talent in him too, because he was an excellent troweler. The bad news is that Joseph has his own home that is being worked on, so he cannot help us all the time. Of course, we can trade out and help him now and then, too. In the first photo, you can see Joseph working the gun, Toby working the mud bucket, and the green dot is Jesse troweling the mud. My job was filling the mud bucket, ‘cause I’m the mudder.

We also had a couple of accidents starting off yesterday. Toby ran into the wheelbarrow full of mud (it did not budge) and hurt his knee. He did recover and do okay the rest of the day, but he was sore. Then I ran out in the yard to get an extra water-hose and stepped in a whole – yep, I rolled my ankle again. Having such large ankles (thanks to my grandmother) comes in handy at times like these. I just rolled on over and got back up. Jesse came around the corner in time to see me on my hands and knees. She said she wondered what I was looking for. She missed my graceful fall and cussing (or was the cussing just in my thoughts?).

We did not quite finish the entire house – meaning one more stucco time, but not an entire day. We had really dreaded doing the peak part of the house, but it went fairly easily – thanks to Joseph. Having one more strong back was very good indeed!