A teeny disaster.

Song of the day: “Don’t bother” by Shakira. Funny song to have in your head, in particular since you can repeat it, and repeat it and no one will ever notice. Hah.

So a slight disaster struck today, but it was later in the day, so let’s start off with that there was an interrupted edit this morning…the delivery truck was late, so we had to wait up by the gate…but still it didn’t go entirely bad.

There were the chores, laundry etc. etc. the edit, and then an early start again on outside work. It goes well, chatter all round, lots of hauling with little trouble, and then while we’re putting in what are, basically, the last two layers of the last piece of wall we’re building.
I’ve used the sledgehammer on a big piece of concrete in the ground (it was in the way) removing a large part of it, giving us some space.

It’s going pretty well, the parasol provides shade, we’re making good time, and then it happens, little sister flops down a batch of cement on top of the newly laid rock, when slowly the parasol begins to cant. Prior to work, I’d set it on one of the poles that we put into the wall yesterday. (that’s where the fencing will be) And now, as I stand on top of a slanted piece of rocky mountain, I watch…not without awe…between the younger sibs, while the parasol, ground and the WALL go down in a mighty rumbling tumble.

Now, imagine me, eyes big, my arms in mid-air, holding a heavy rock up to my stomach, staring at this big ol’ rock - from the bottom of the wall, mind you - tumble sluggishly down the mountain, where it comes to rest a good thirty feet away from where it was.
Right there at our feet a large pile of rocks and cement lie in a jumbled mess, taking out at least six feet of the wall we’d just laid.

Seriously, with all the walls we’ve built, past and present, this has never happened before. As it turned out…it took me a few minutes to stop being agog, and actually put the rock down so I could climb over the rubble to see what had gone wrong. The fence, which is old and had been standing there for at least ten years, had gathered so much dirt over the years that the wall floated a good two feet over the actual ground. Yeah, I know, I should have checked that when we started, but honestly, it didn’t even occur to me. Yep, ya learn something new every day. Grrr.

Now, considering no one got hurt…the dogs appeared to have seen it coming when we didn’t, aaargh…all that today’s little disaster caused was the loss of cement and, well, time. Darn it! Stuff like this pisses me off, but then, who really cares. In the end, it just means that we have to work on it a few more days.

We take the rocks away, pile ‘m up, and then I start to dig. A part of the wall is still standing, but now that so much has tumbled over, it is clear that the wall is standing on unstable ground too. I dig out a gutter that goes down to the rocky ground, and we dump the majority of the bigger rocks in for tomorrow. In order to get some structural stability, we’re going to have to build another wall in front and below the other one. Ones it’s done it’ll serve as bench sort of thing and support the other one as well.

More work, for sure, but not the worst thing…it does make me want to, though; a lot…and I did. Hah.

So after we made a temporary fence to protect the remaining wall as much as the lower garden…aargh…and then head up to the carport to assist grandpa and big brother with making the new tool shed a little better. Pounding nails into boards (they’re going to hold tools) is excellent therapy I’ll admit. By the time I was at nail number sixty, I almost wasn’t frustrated any more. Almost being the magic word.

Soon the evening has fallen and after a quick dip into the pool, we head down to the house for dinner, the blog and a viewing of the fun movie “Dogma”. Still funny, even though I’ve seen it at least five times already.

And once more, the day is over, and yep, my obsession is dealt with by writing it all down. Not the best of days, but it’s reassuring that no one got hurt. Though…we’re insured these days, so we might have been able to check out our coverage. Hah.