More Hard Rock Labor

Well this week I have worked hard to finish off the four bags of cement I bought, because I really didn't want to bring them in the house and don't have any dry storage outdoors at the moment. So early and late I have worked on the stone retaining walls in the creek bottom. I've finally mixed up the last batch of cement before I go on vacation and now I can concentrate on other things, like decluttering and housekeeping!

When I come home from vacation I will continue on the wall work. I need to bring the wall above the culvert up about 12 inches above the road bed. Then I will continue the wall at that height for a distance up the creek bottom to prevent wash outs. In the area just to the right of the wall in the picture I will put in an overflow area to direct any water to the other side of the crossing and down into the creek in the event that the water ever tops the walls.  When my son first proposed the scheme I don't think he realized how high maintenance these culverts would be. We will have to clean out the debris from in front of them every time there are heavy rains, to keep things moving.

In the meantime I am becoming more and more excited about building my own house of stone. But I think I will begin with something smaller, like a chicken coop combined with a green house. Lots of ideas rolling around in my head! I've written an article about owner built alternative homes, which you can read here.

I just love looking at stone walls of all sorts, here is a closeup of mine.