Formwork Finished!

Last Saturday, Phil had a men's workday scheduled at a friend's house. He had a great time, but returned physically pretty tired. We managed to place two or three boards in an hour, but since the sun was setting and the next board required hacking through claystone, we stopped for the night.

Rain has been forecast for today for most of the last week. I woke to the sound of a gentle shower. It fell intermittently. We started work, but after an hour, we were damp (and grumpy). We had tasks indoors, so we settled in.

But the rain dried up after lunch, and we headed back down to keep making forms. And wonder of wonders, with another four hours of concentrated physical labor, we placed the last board and called it good. Phil had figured it would take a day to make the forms; I had figured much longer. In terms of hours (eight), Phil was correct; in terms of actual calendar time, it's been over two weeks since excavation and four days since we placed the first board. (Physically, I'm not sure I would have held up for a full eight hours. All the bending, hacking, lifting, pulling: it's physically demanding. I am grateful we only had perhaps a dozen feet of claystone to hack through, and only a few inches down: that was the hardest, slowest part, where the mattock hits and hits, with no noticeable change. I don't think I will take up sculpting any time soon: Michelangelo's reputation is safe from any Amy competition!)

And as we finished, a sudden cloudburst struck, and for about thirty seconds, we had a beautiful rainbow right opposite our hole.

The three younger boys headed down immediately to play in the space.

Jadon had asked about dinner. Phil suggested he make some. So Jadon did: a half batch of cookies. His first attempt at solo baking, and he did a good job. The only question I heard was where the cookie trays are.

Between Jadon's cookies, Isaiah's good-natured tea-making for his working parents, Abraham's encouraging comments ("Great job, Dad!" every time Phil cut a board), and Joe's companionship, our boys bless us much.