#9--Downpour

The day started out grey and by mid morning became one of the worst rainstorms I've seen in a while. Pouring, pouring, pouring. Dan Lupino and I had an appointment to tag stone for the arch and figure out just how we're going to build it and of course it started storming about 15 minutes before.

I stopped to pick up some carpenter's crayons thinking they'd be waterproof and damned myself for leaving the brolly at home. The gravel drive to the mansion was a washed out mess and Dan, the stone man, was already there when I arrived. When I signed in the operations staff referred to us as the Druids, which I thought was a hoot. I promised to light a bonfire and dance around the garden naked on the night of the opening gala.

We attempted to mark the site boundary for utilities mark outs but the paint was useless in the rain. I'll have to go back when it's a bit dryer. We did discover the beginnings of a sinkhole about 20' from our area and will have to deal with that next week--you could hear underground water rushing through it. Retreating to the car for a dry meeting of minds, we fleshed out some of the details for building the first stone pile. It won't really be a pile because the arch has to be seated soundly. Dry stone construction relies on a solid base, so the area cannot settle or the arch will ultimately fail. So we figured that one out and hopefully arch construction will begin on Wednesday.