The Lake Rainsalot

Took a couple pictures after they rain halted for a little bit.

The fog pretty much covers up the whole mountains during the rain. I'd take a picture of that but I'm sure you've all seen the color grey before.

This was the (almost) full moon on the lake. The clouds cleared up just in time.

Oh, and the hole in the cliff face I found earlier turned out to be one of Jon's Gold Mines. Don't think I'm ready for that adventure quite yet.

Later.

End of Day Shots: Day Seven

So it's been pouring rain here for three days straight here. It makes for some really cool fog effects on the lake, but it makes work a little difficult. We were working in the rain a little to get the concrete forms off, but after that I stayed inside to help build the water wheel.

This place turns into a mud puddle in the rain, but it was still warm enough to take care of the forms.

By the end of today, the guys finished putting the form for the stairs in here.

Meanwhile, I stayed dry inside clamping most of the day.

By the end of today we finished gluing the joints for the actual wheel, and we have most of the spokes ready. We'll set up a jig to cut a circle out of this guy.

This is the center hub for the spoke they had a shop in town make. It'll make more sense when it's put together

We're kinda waiting on the weather for a lot of different things. The wheel itself can't be constructed till it's dry, since it won't fit through the shop door. The mason is trying to get his job of stoning the wall underway, but it's pretty wet for that work. And we need to fill in the back of the wall here sometime as well. Keeping Busy.

Later.

End of Day Shots: Day Four

So today we finished up the form walls and braced them, then spent the afternoon pouring the concrete. There's only four of us working (five including Jon) so I couldn't really take pictures of the pour. Here are the results anyway.

The pour was went pretty smoothly... from what I'm told, this was my first time.

This is where the step going up will be.

This will be a column with a light fixture at the top.

Later.

Exploring the hill

Took it easy the first weekend. Just stomped around the woods where I live. Found a couple cool things.

The stripped tree is actually a good cell phone reception marker. If I'm talking to you on my phone, I'm probably standing here.

This was just over the hill side from me. I knew what I had to do...

And this is the view from the rock pictured above. It actually formed a comfortable seat.

Next weekend I'll figure out how to get in there without getting wet.

Later.

Where I sleep n'at

The living conditions here are pretty awesome. Jon and Carol put me up in a two story beach house with a beautiful outdoor shower and a self-cleaning bathroom.

Here's the upstairs, basically consists of the bedroom.

Way, way down there is the downstairs floor.

Soon the water will reach right up to that concrete level and splash up onto the deck.

Here's a better view of the hike I take for my morning shower.

This is the bathroom. Beautiful view, right?

The garage gives Rachel a wonderful view of the lake.

The kitchen is well stocked with what I need to survive.

Not quite roughing it, I know. But kind of a huge step for the city boy in me. I'm loving every minute of it so far, especially the lake. The picture at the top of the page is my view from the lower level. More soon.

End of Day Shots: Day Two

Arrived at the site on Tuesday, and within about 14 hours I was already put to work. No problem with that seeing as I've been "out of work" for a couple weeks now. Plus it almost feels like I'm working in a post card scene.

So this what I've been working on for the first two days. It's going to end up being a nice weaving retaining wall.

It pretty much borders the driveway and starts in front of this place, called the gate house.

We'll lay the concrete in the form and then the mason will continue the stone work around the wall. Where that plywood is standing up in the back, the wall will turn in and a set of stone stairs will climb up to the yard.

The wall ends just in front of this building which is where the shop is located. I'll get better photos of the place later.

This is behind the shop. The next project will be to create a water tower, which feeds a water wheel, which feeds a waterfall down this rock wall to the pond below.

This is the view I have to deal with at work, by the way.

And this is one of the many animals that come to visit. I'll tell you there names as soon as I start to remember them.

Anyway, I'll get some better layout pictures as I get the time and I'll try to stay updated on work photos as well.

Vacation Before 'Vacation'

I thought I'd post some pics from the trip to Grand Canyon I took with Johnny Blaze as a sort of blog warm up exercise for myself. Please note that these were taken with a disposable camera bought at the last minute as John's camera ran out of batteries, and mine... well, all great things must come to an end (R.I.P. Cannon A390: 2003-2010)

Most of my pics are of John's back.

A sign said it took the dinosaurs 50 years to dig this hole.

You should ask John about how many Indiana Jones quotes I did.

The Mighty Colorado from 3 miles away.

Note the hair product is still holding despite the elements.

I'll post more pics, and some Vegas shots, as soon as John gets some to me. Oh and that smirk in the last pic didn't last long on the way back up. I'll start the Gold Coin post here soon. Late.