A Rain Event

Monday was a day to stay inside, look out and watch it rain. It was a real soaker, dropping at least two inches. The unusual aspect of the storm is the rain didn't fall in a short time with a high wind, but fell over a period of about 30 hours. As a result there was very little runoff, but the long event kept me inside all day so nothing was accomplished on the stairway or sidewalk.

Tuesday morning I woke up at 3:30 and visited you know where and crawled back into bed, hopping to go back to sleep. For me it was one of those unusual mornings as I went back to sleep and didn't wake up until 7:15. That was really out of character for me. I got up and did all the things you do in the morning to get ready to go to work in the mud. By using a spading fork instead of a shovel, I was able to dig the soil out for my last foundation work. I built the forms and got ready to mix concrete and went in for lunch. After lunch it was off to Home Depot for three bags of concrete to add to the three I already had.

The first three bags I mixed were the ones I already had. I generally mix two bags, one at a time, to get a wheelbarrow full. The fourth bag for the second wheelbarrow load was one of those I had just purchased. The quality was the worse I had ever seen as it had almost not cement content. It was nothing but small stones. I added it to the wheelbarrow load and went to work it into the first load. I returned to mix up the last two bags to make the last load and found the next bag to be as bad as the last one. I felt the last bag and realized it also was bad. I have mixed well over 200 bags and have never had one of such poor quality. These last two could not be used. This really put me in a spot because I had to finish the job.

I grabbed the soup can from lunch, ripped off the label and filled it with a sample from the bag, loaded the unopened bag in the back of my car and headed back to Home Depot. I could have been upset, but I wasn't. It was just one of those events that test your character. I entered the construction out door to look for a cart to return the bag I brought back and was met by a person from the construction counter. She asked if I needed help. I calmly explained what happened and she quickly asked me to bring in the bag and they would give me three good bags. She had me put my returned bad bag on the pile to be sold and told me to take three bags from the top of the other pile. There were six bags on the pile where my bag went. I felt them and they were all bad; just small stones.

I returned home and mixed up the three bags, now with the temperature at 98 degrees Fahrenheit with a relative humidity of about 80. It made one really sweat. I finished my work, cleaned everything up, and took two pictures. The first picture shows a good mix sample and a mix from one of the bad bags I wasted.

There is really a big difference. The second picture shows the last piece of concrete for the side walk. The two bolts are for brackets for the stair stringers and supports for the railings.

The weather looks good for tomorrow. Hopefully I can get much accomplished.