The Wall

This hardworking bunch finally pulled off the first major post-construction project at Loveless Lake. I’ve now got a lovely tiered retaining wall to keep the earth and water away from the walkout window in the basement. (To celebrate, I've given the blog an uplifting new design as well.)

Jeff, Chris, Kobe, Mike toast a job well-done.

 

Recall the scene in late May…

 

At least the ferns were happy.



Mike figured out that The Builder never caulked under the sill.

The retaining wall project got postponed six times for rain or heat. We were 0-for 3 on consecutive weekends and facing 0-for-4 on Friday night when another storm rolled in after midnight.

(And it was a doozy. My neighbor’s house in Minneapolis caught fire after getting struck by lightning from the storm, and Mike and young Kobe spent a terrifying night in Mike’s sailboat on Loveless Lake.)

Chris and I headed up Sunday not knowing what we'd find. We figured the worst that would happen is we’d get there and have to, I don’t know, maybe play in the water or go canoeing or fishing or something.

Sunday turned out to be a fine day to work. Low humidity, temps in the low 80s. The delays ended up giving Chris’ hand more time to heal, and Jeff was willing to motorcycle over to add some muscle.

With three professional handymen -- and support from the peanut gallery of Kobe, Chipper and me – the boys pulled it off in a really long work day that went something like this:

  

Thank you, gentlemen.