Almost Heaven, Working with bricks

Trying to compose a title for today's entry I was inspired by John Denver's ode to West Virginia.

Finally we are getting into spring. At 6:30 a.m. as I’m typing this out, the birds are singing their little hearts out. The doors and windows are open; the sky is lightening up in the east: The start of another day. One my first classical albums purchased was Sibelius’s “Finlandia” which also had the Peer Gynt Suite. It is mornings such as this I realize how dead on Sibelius was composing “Morning Mood” in conveying the mystical feeling on the dawning of a new day.

Stumpy pigged out on his morning “wet food treats” and took off to patrol his territory. Daggy was content to settle in on the bed and look pretty……

It looks like rain is going to settle in for the duration of the day. This will be a perfect opportunity to “piddle and mess” with nagging inside projects.

One of my favourite sayings is, “Normal is a setting on your washing machine.” Many years ago when first attempting to make some sense of my life, I realized I would never have a “normal” existence. I wish I could understand why I experience the joy I do when working on my projects. The current bliss is digging into the first patio I put together, to get things ready for the major rebuild.

Building the display base for the Smith fire hydrant from Yonkers, New York I was in heaven! This was a problematic job to figure out. The base of this fire hydrant is normally fitted into a “break-a-way” connector. There is no flange or extending pipe to use for mounting. Using an old bleach bottle as a form, a cylinder of cement was poured that the fire hydrant will fit over.

The bricks edging the base were acquired in Ohio, and the filler bricks were salvaged from half bricks I had on hand.

The manhole ring and assembly was finally put into place. I think it is safe to say I’ll have the only patio in Tuscaloosa sporting manholes from Tuscaloosa, and Birmingham! See what I mean about “normal”!!

My dentist, Dr Jack called me earlier in the week. He had some bricks for me! One of his salesman had mentioned to him how a building was torn down on his property and he had lots of “slave brick”. This is kind of a generic term for the bricks that were made and fired on site. Usually they are oversize when compared to the standard sized bricks today.

My dentist related stories to this salesman of my brick, fire hydrant, and manhole collecting! The next time this vendor called he had bricks for DrJack and me! I stopped by the office Wednesday to pick them up. You always trade bricks when acquiring them this way. I took out a Graves, and Agusta paver to trade.

I had been working on my projects so I was dressed in my Utilikilt, do-rag, and workboots when I made my entrance. Dr Jack has been my dentist since I’ve lived in Tuscaloosa. I’m on a first name basis with pretty much the entire staff. They all broke out in smiles with the absurdity of trading bricks and my Utilikilt.

Life is so good!!!