Vacation: Monday

After all of our hard concrete work, Rick and I took a little vacation to the central and eastern parts of Florida.  Rick has long been a fan of Frank Lloyd Wright, so we decided to start our vacation by visiting Florida Southern College (FSC) in Lakeland.  Why go there? We had to see the college since almost the entire campus was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

In 1938, FSC had three buildings -- large, red brick squares that resembled every other college across both the United States and Europe.  Dr. Ludd Spivey, the president of FSC, wanted something different and uniquely American.  An article in Time Magazine brought the work of Frank Lloyd Wright to his attention.  The rest is history.

Write's influence is apparent even in the fountains and
the landscape on campus.  He believed that buildings
and nature should enhance one another.

The already 70-year-old Wright agreed to plan and to build a campus that he called the "child of the sun." His plans called for 18 structures, 12 of which were actually built in the next 20 years.  Since the construction took place from 1938 - 1958, events like the Great Depression and World War II made both money and manpower short. Spivey saved money by using native materials like cypress trees and building blocks made from local sand and stone,  and he solved the manpower problem by offering students free tuition if they would work on building the campus.  When WWII took many of the young, able-bodied men off campus, Spivey offered the same free-tuition idea to young women.  They accepted and built at least two complete buildings during the war years.

A huge fountain is the counterpoint of the campus.  When the fountain
is turned on, the water jets form a water dome.

The campus today is a wonder of Frank Lloyd Wright designs. Present are the flat roofs, the almost-hidden doorways, the entries opening to expansive room, the use of natural materials and abundant light through stained-glass and soaring windows, and the covered walkways and gardens that are earmarks of Wright's architecture.

Over one mile of covered "esplanades" offer shade to the
students and protection from Florida's intense rain showers.

While OSHA regulations have spoiled parts of the designs by demanding railings on staircases and exhaust ventilation systems in science labs, the majority of his structures are intact.  We had an excellent tour guide who shared stories about what Wright wanted and what reality dictated.  One story explained the metal lattice work on the top of the Annie Pfeiffer Chapel. Wright loved bougainvillea, and ornamental climbing bush that blooms year-round in Florida.  What he did not understand was that while summers were wet, winters are dry.  And if the rain does not come every day in the summer, those metal supports on the roof would become so hot in the intense Florida sun that anything touching them would just fry.  Sadly, while the idea was good, the bougainvillea were short-lived.

Bougainvillea does bloom beautifully on the ground of the campus.

The tour took over 2 1/2 hours, and we had to leave before it was completely finished, but it is a destination work seeing.  I will let the rest of the pictures tell the story of Monday's adventure.

The reading room of the original library was filled with light
from overhead windows. This entire structure was built by
women who attended the College during the war years.

The final picture is inside the Danforth Chapel, and the windows, which lead the eye to an "infinity" point,  are pure Frank Lloyd Wright.

Florida sunshine streams through the clean lines of the stained
glass windows in the William H. Danforth Chapel on campus.

Cement Success -- Part 2

Yesterday after our hard work in the morning, we had to head back to the store to pick up 11 more bags of Sakrete for today. We did not want to battle the hordes of people that descend of Home Depot on a sunny Saturday morning!

After our shopping, we took advantage of our membership in the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg by driving down to attend a lecture on their Escher exhibit. We wanted to beat the Friday night rush-hour traffic, so we left early and arrived without too much hassle.

We had packed a picnic supper to eat while sitting on a bench by the waterside; however, when we arrived we learned that St. Petersburg was hosting a boat show along the waterfront.  We did not have our usual access to the waterfront area, so we improvised by having our picnic at the outside dining area of the Dali.

After dinner, we went into the Dali and revisited the Escher exhibit.  We actually bought two Escher prints.  One is called "Three Worlds."  It shows the top of a pond, reflecting the air, the trees growing on the land, and the fish in the water.  I want to frame that one and hang it in our main bathroom.

M. C. Escher's "Three Worlds."

The second print is called "Reptiles." It depicts an alligator-like reptile that starts out as a two-dementional drawing, then it crawls out of the paper as a three-dimensional creature, and eventually circles around and melts back into the two-dimensional drawing.  I am not sure where I might put that print yet, but it is one of my favorite Escher woodcuts, and the creature seems right for Florida.

Escher's "Reptile" which shows his fascination with
multi-dimensional work.

At 6:00 p.m., we went with others into the theatre for a presentation by the owner of the Escher artwork on display, Paul Firos. Firos was an excellent speaker who gave us insight into how Escher completed his work and how his work was influenced by his experiences.  The lecture was well worth the trip down to the city.

This morning we tackled the second half of our concrete project.  We learned from the experience yesterday, so this pour actually went a bit easier and, we hope, with better results.  We will learn tomorrow how good the actual pour looks when we take off the forms.

Our equipment is staged and ready to go.  The
inside form is out, and we are ready to start mixing
concrete.

Rick was pleased with how easily the inside form came off from the first pour.  This form, with holes drilled in it, allowed us to add rebar which will stabilize the two sections together.  Thankfully, we do not have to worry about the ground moving with a freeze-thaw cycle here like we do in Wisconsin, but the ground still does move a bit, especially if the sandy soil under the slab gets washed out for some reason.

We started at approximately 8:30 a.m. and were finished by 9:40 a.m.  Twelve bags of concrete mixed and poured in that amount of time.  Once again, thank God for the concrete mixer.  It allows us to work quickly and to do a generous pour without the earlier pours getting too stiff for us to manipulate.

Rick works the concrete to smooth it in the first
phase of the finishing process.

An hour later, Rick adds the edges for the
finishing touch.

Now we just have to let the concrete dry.  We will give the slabs at least a week before we put the garbage can and recycling can back in place.  I am certainly looking forward to not trying to drag them out of the mud to take to the curb on rainy garbage collection day!

Tomorrow is Sunday, and I, for one, am going to use it as a much-needed day of rest.

Cement Success

Once again we are blessed with dry weather -- which also happened to be quite cool this morning (60's) -- so we were able to get outside to complete our planned work.

We were set up and ready to go by 9:00 this morning, and overall the pour went well.

We ended up with six mixes of concrete (Sacrete).  The first five mixes were two bags each, and the last mix was just one bag.  The mixtures were quite dry and stiff, but the concrete set up well. Thank God for the portable concrete mixer.  We would not have been able to do this if we had to mix the concrete by hand; life it too short to be in pain for something that we want to accomplish.

Rick starts to work the surface of the pour.

Rick continues to make the surface smooth
while trying not to work the concrete too much.

We learned some lessons with this project.  First, we would make the mixes just slightly more wet.  Secondly, we would pour half the slab and then work that part into place before pouring the second half.  Today, the first part began to dry too much before we had it all poured which made working it into a smooth surface more difficult.  We'll try something different for the second part of the slab.

Rick has said multiple times that concrete is finicky. It cannot be handled too much or the surface is ruined.  Right now we are pleased with the appearance.  We originally toyed with the idea of brushing the surface, but in the end we like what we see and decided to leave it smooth.  No one is going to walk or slip on these slabs, so there is no reason to roughen the surface.

The finished first part of the slab and the
rebar that will connect it to the second part
of the slab.

We suspect that the edges may be a little rough. With the next section, we'll make sure the edges are worked enough to get the air out so all looks great when we take off the forms.

The second section awaits concrete tomorrow.

The final conclusion we reached is that we probably would be able to pour sections which eventually would be used as a patio or as a base for a shed.  One step at a time.  Right now, we just need to go out to buy the next five bags of Sacrete for the second section of the present slab.

Prep and Pain

OK, once again we both ache.  Some might say that our aches and pains are due to old age. Perish the thought!  I choose, instead, to blame my aching back on overuse of neglected muscles.  I admit to being out of shape, but never old.

We decided yesterday that we would do a "test pour" of concrete to see how difficult it would be for us someday to pour a small slab in the back yard.  We have long wanted to have a concrete base on the north side of the house on which to store the garbage can and the recycling bin.  That area is low which means that it always floods and becomes a mud patch when we get a heavy rain.  With a concrete slab on which to store the bins, rolling them out to the curb on garbage days will be much easier, and we will not have to slog through the mud to do so.

So this morning Rick started the day by framing the area in question with 2 x 4s. Our slab will be 3 feet wide by 10 feet long.  We will pour the slab in two 3 x 5 sections joined with 1/2" rebar.  Each section will take approximately twelve 60 pound bags of Sacrete which we will prepare in six 2-bag mixes.  Hopefully, the pours should be fairly quick to complete since we have the portable concrete mixer.

Rick starts to remove dirt and stone from inside
the frames for our concrete base next to the house.

Yesterday we picked up the first five bags of Sacrete. We can only get five or six bags in the car at one time.  We have the space, but we do not want to load any more weight to the back of the car.  If we had our truck here, we could pick up the Sacrete more quickly.

The framing took until about noon. We broke for lunch and then returned to our work to dig out the dirt in the center of both frames.  Thankfully, the temperatures were in the high 70's, so working outside was tolerable as long as we were in the shade.

The area is riddled with stones, so we agreed that we would take the dirt by wheelbarrow to the back garden and then sift out the stones.  Although this took a few hours this afternoon, the result was worth the effort.  We were able to fill in the corner garden with clean sifted soil to the level that we needed as a base for planting flowers.  If we had had to buy this dirt in bags from the store, it would have cost us at least $50.00.

The sifted dirt in the corner garden looks great as it awaits flowers.

We both ache as a result of all the digging and sifting, but we are happy with the results. We were able to fill the garden and to return the stone to our frames to be used as a good drainage base under where we will pour the concrete.

Tomorrow we will fill the first of these two frames
with concrete.

We still need to return to Home Depot one more time for a few more bags of Sacrete; we'll do that tonight after dinner when the traffic settles down.  Then we will hope that tomorrow dawns cool and clear, and that we both will be able to get out of bed to actually do the work.

Pipes and Pains

After working hard in the front yard late last week, we actually were kind to ourselves and took the weekend off from hard work.  I don't know about Rick, but I needed that.

We spent part of Saturday running errands and then meeting our nephew's fiancee.  Rachel is a delightful woman, and we are very happy to have her join our slightly insane family.  My sister is quiet, so I am sure she wondered how this talkative woman could ever be her future mother-in-law's sister.  Who cares?  We went to lunch with Jon and Rachel and had a wonderful time.

Sunday was truly a day of rest.  After church, we did some planning for this coming week which resulted in lots of shopping on Monday.  We went everywhere from Kohl's Department Store to Home Depot and Lowe's.

Today we made up for our slough of the past few days by tackling our next project: routing the drainage from our front gutter/ downspout into an underground water removal system.  We needed to do that to carry the rainwater away from the front of the house.  The ground is uneven, so when the water goes down the downspout, it tends to backwash down a slight hill and puddle where our new pavers and front sidewalk eventually will be built.  Water is always the enemy of construction of any kind... save, perhaps, a water-driven mill.

We started by removing the current downspout and laying out the path of our new underground system.  Then Rick became a modern-day sod-buster, taking up the sod along the path for the underground pipes.  We both dug out the trench until we were sweaty and filthy.  Sweaty?  Yes.  Today is December 1, and Florida is still experiencing above-average temperatures.  By the time we finished this project at 1:40 this afternoon, the temperature had climbed to 81 degrees.

Rick shovels out the trench for the pipes.
(Actually, I dug the trench, too, but he never takes a
picture of me working hard.)

Rick glued lots of 4" drainage pipe together until we were approximately 30 feet from the house.  We wanted to get the drainage out beyond the slight rise in the front yard so that when the run-off surfaced again, the water would run down our yard into the street.

Sections of pipe await final construction.

Of course, the transit again was invaluable to make sure that we had the pipe pitched low enough to carry the water away.  Thank you, Steve, for lending us the transit.  We may have to start paying rent on it yet!

The glued, finished pipe is ready to be glued
onto the downspout at the house.

The good news with our dig was that we found the buried house sewage pipe without damaging it, and it was actually closer to the house than we had anticipated, so it worked fine with the decline of the underground pipe.  We safely passed above the sewer line without incident.

The second break we realized was when we hit only one 3 inch root from the now-departed bottle brush tree.  We both feared that we might run into some major roots, but Rick soon dispatched the small branch with a little SawsAll action.  A couple minor roots were sliced though with the shovel.

After much digging, gluing, and reassembly of the downspouts and new drainage pipes, we now have a working underground water-removal system for our front gutter.  All of that rainwater used to pour down like a waterfall onto our front porch before we added gutters.  Now it will not only be captured in the gutter, but also it will be carried safely away from the house.

The completed downspout hugs the house.
Once we add shrubs in front of it, it will be almost
unnoticed from the front of the house.

The finished project from the downspout to
the egress which pops up when water fills
the pipe.

This was the next step in our plans for re-landscaping the front yard. We both are sore and exhausted which leads us to second-guessing whether we really want to put the pavers down for the front porch and sidewalk.  Laying the pavers is relatively easy; doing the prep work with crushed concrete and sand is another story.  We are re-evaluating what we are physically capable of doing.  My muscles certainly are not what they were, and Rick has made no secret that digging and lifting things with a shovel is hard on him, too.

After lots of intense labor, Rick deserves a rest.  I took the
picture from inside, through the screen, so I would not awaken him.

We are pleased with the results of today.  Yes, we have a scar down the center of the yard that must smooth out and grow over.  That will just take a couple of months.  We tested the system and know that it works.  And that is good.  Rain is predicted tomorrow evening and Thursday morning, and no place has rainstorms quite like Florida!

Muddy "Ache"ers

We were out early this morning again to play in the mud.  We wanted to see if we could get the dirt ridge and grass out of the area where we eventually want the paver sidewalk to reside.  To that end, we once again manned the shovels, spades, and buckets.

This section was less difficult than the last one just because we were further away from the main palm tree roots.  The area still took us time because we had to dig down to remove the sod, sift the dirt we turned over to rid it of roots, seeds, and stones, and transport the sifted dirt to new locations that were low in the yard.

This area was full of stones, so we think that at one time the now-gone palm tree was surrounded by stones.  I wanted to save them and perhaps use them in the back yard, but Rick just wanted to get rid of them.  We sifted out four bags of debris again today to go along with the three full bags that we removed yesterday.  If we were to go back and sift areas that we have not sifted yet, I am sure that we could get at least a half-dozen more bags of yard debris.

The ground is level enough to hold our temporary
paver sidewalk.

Once we start to lay the real pavers, we will have to
dig this whole area out more and put down a crushed
concrete paver base.

The results of our labor today is twofold.  First, we have the area leveled where we eventually want the sidewalk to go.  We temporarily reinstalled the paver blocks to allow us to walk to the house without slopping through the mud.  Secondly, both of us ache like we have not done so since we installed the fence.  Digging, tugging, and sifting the dirt left us both with sore butts, backs, and shoulders.  (Which just shows how old and how out of shape we both appear to be!)

However, we are pleased with the results so far.  We would love to put plants into the front garden, but they do not look great this time of year, and I would rather wait until early March when new plants come in and when the growing season for the part of Florida really starts. How we are going to keep the mud of the garden from washing down the driveway remains to be seen.  Perhaps landscape fabric or a good tarp will have to do for now.  (I suggested artificial turf, but Rick was not too thrilled with my suggestion!)

Some colorful bushes and plants will both hide the
plumbing fixtures and add some curb appeal to
the front of Gladys.

The temporary sidewalk will have to do until we can get back to Florida after the Christmas holiday.  At that point, we can order a load of crushed gravel, attack it all with a power tamper, and have the pavers delivered to our house.  Until then, Gladys is once again a work in progress.

Happy Thanksgiving!

For the past two years, Lindsay and Chris have set up a Thanksgiving tree on their dining room buffet.  Each day in November, leading up to Thanksgiving, they hang leaves on the tree, writing down things for which they are thankful.  If I were to add a leaf to their tree this year, after this morning I would write, "I am thankful for a SawsAll."

Strange?  Not really.  You just have to know my husband.  We got up this morning and before I was even finished with breakfast, he was proposing that we go into our front yard to work on the mound of dirt we had to move in preparation for adding a garden and preparing the front for pavers.  He promised that we would work "just for a couple of hours."  Ha! Once he gets going on something, he does not want to stop.  By my watch, working from 8:30 until 11:45 am does not constitute a "couple of hours."

We started by trying to remove all of the grass.  The grass that we have here in Florida does not compare to the whimpy, soft grass we have in Wisconsin.  Our grass is bahai grass which has thick blades and long roots.  Additionally, the weeds intermixed with the grass gave us a first-class battle.  But that was just the beginning.

After we had the grass removed, we still had mounds of dirt that contained fallen palm seeds (which look like little acorns), twigs, stones, and some of the most intertwined, stubborn roots known to man.  Have you ever wondered how palm trees can withstand hurricane force (think 120 mph) winds?  Well, not only are they incredibly flexible, but they also have a ball root system that will defy any shovel used to remove them. Yes, the folks who removed the tree yesterday did grind down the main root of the palm tree, but they left plenty of auxiliary roots stubbornly in place.

Rick uses the SawsAll to cut out another slice
of palm tree roots.

For the next two+ hours, we shoveled, pulled, and finally used a SawsAll to cut out huge chunks of root ball.  That was the only way that we could get the roots out of the ground.

This is a solid mass of roots about the size of
a piece of typing paper.

I kept wishing for something to sift the thousands of roots and seeds out of the dirt, but I did not want to sacrifice one of my good sieves from the kitchen.  Then I spotted just the perfect sieve: an old patio table with a lattice top.  The holes were big enough to let the dirt fall through, but small enough to filter out the worst of the root fragments, stones, and acorn-sized seeds.

The sifted dirt leaves a small pile of debris that
will go into the trash.

Note the comfortable "chair" on which I sit!
Both my butt and my back were killing me
by the time I finished.

By noon, we both were exhausted, but the major work of the day was finished.  The garden area is now free of the major roots and stone and lighter since I think I removed at least 2000 seeds!

The picture below from the left-hand board to the house shows the area we cleaned out today that will be the front garden of the house.  I have not decided exactly what plants and shrubs I want to add to the area.  Whatever I choose must give Gladys a little curb appeal and color!

The last picture shows the area to the left of the board that we dug out today, and the mound of dirt that we have to remove tomorrow.  The area to the left of the board will someday be the area into which we add the paver sidewalk.

The dirt to the left of the board will have to be taken
down to the top of the 2 x 4 in the ground.  

So yes, in addition to my loving family and wonderful friends, I am thankful that we had the use of a SawsAll today to finish our "couple of hours" of work this morning.

Clean Slate

When we bought Gladys almost five years ago (this coming March), we knew that someday we would have to remove the trees in the front yard.  Today was that "someday."

The gnarled bottle brush tree stands in the middle of the front
yard with the palm tree behind it by the kitchen windows.

The bottle brush tree in the front yard had already lost four major limbs by the time we bought the house.  It was smaller because of that, and it had many less red brushes than a healthy tree would have.  Each year we have watched as more and more of the branches began to die.  Finally, we knew that it was time to put the tree out of its misery.

Workers begin to remove the few remaining
branches of the bottle brush tree.

The other tree in the front we both hated to see taken down, but it, too, was not a healthy tree.  The second one was the queen palm in front of the kitchen windows.  Whoever planted that tree years ago did not know much about landscaping because the tree was planted way too close to the house.  Over the years, it had started to lean over the kitchen roof, and a large crack about three-quarters of the way up the trunk caused further worry that one day a good wind would blow the tree right onto the roof.  We were advised by the city arborist to take the tree down when we removed the bottle brush.

So today was removal day.  At approximately 11:30, two huge trucks pulled in front of our house.  Four men with saws and equipment got out, and in less than an hour, both trees were gone.

The bottle brush tree was short enough that the men did not even have to use ladders.  A couple of saws at the end of poles made short work of the tree.

With one swift cut, the queen palm
tree falls to the ground.

The palm tree took even less time to take down.  One man lifted a large rope toward the top of the tree.  As a couple of men pulled on the rope, he sawed the tree across near the base. Down it went.  An end-loader carried the palm tree and trunk out to the curb where we were told that another truck would pick it up later.  Since the trunk of a palm is very fibrous, the men could not feed it into a chopper to turn it into the sawdust.

A large lift truck came later to load and to carry away
the remains of the palm tree.

After the workmen all left, Rick and I got to work on what was left of the front yard.  We know that we will have to move lots of dirt around to frame a new flower garden in front of the kitchen windows and to lay out where our new paver porch and sidewalk will go.

We started with a transit and strings to get some preliminary elevations and then fine-tuned those measurements into actual 2 x 4 frames down to which we must lower the ground.  We worked for almost two hours just getting things set up.  The palm tree roots are a royal pain to dig up since they are interwoven strings of fiber, so we will have our work cut out for us tomorrow as we continue to try to level the land.

Strings outline where the new sidewalk will go
as boards enclose the area of ground that we
have to remove.  The dirt path is all that remains of
the twisted sidewalk layout from 1960.

The new design for the yard will include two palm trees in the front with a garden between them where the old bottle brush tree once grew.  A smaller garden will be framed by the new pavers for the porch and sidewalk.  That vision will come true after much time, labor, and money. For now, we have a clean state on which to build our new front yard.