Foundation, Day Two

Phil slept through his alarm multiple times this morning (unlike me, who woke the first time—usually I sleep through it). So we got off to a later start, beginning to pour around 8:45.

It started horribly. The first three loads of concrete were so dry I couldn't work with them: I made Phil come and do the screeing and floating. He was able to do so, but it took maybe 20 minutes per load just to float. So slow!

And Phil could hardly lift a bucket. "I don't know how much of this I'm going to be able to handle," he said. So I gave him Arnica, and he took it whenever he needed, and persevered.

We realized that although he was adding more water than he did on Saturday, the sand and gravel must have dried out in the last two days, which required more water. After we figured that out, the rest of the pouring went much better.

Jadon helped until his beet red face and droopy demeanor made me send him inside. He had made chocolate chip cookies yesterday, and we ate one every few hours to keep our energy up. And I stocked up on health store peanut M&Ms (made without artificial colors!), and by late afternoon, when I was dragging, a mouthful helped me carry on.

When the sun set, we had about five sections to go. The idea of cleaning up, only to get up tomorrow knowing that we had to pour a bit more and clean up again ... no thanks.

So we carried on, and finished eleven hours after we started. It was well after dark, and Phil ruined a hose because he couldn't see very well, but we are done. And grateful to be done.

Phil increased his total lifting: 31 bags today; over ten tons.

Underground Storage moves along. Two or three days now to let the concrete cure; we are thankful to sit still.