Block Buster!

The work on the extension continues, well the preparation phase continues. The floor is down so the next stage is to build up the block walls finally using the 199 extra concrete blocks I ordered 18 months ago when I got confused and ordered 7 square metres of blocks instead of enough to do a 7 metre wall. The wall took 51 blocks so the remaining 199 have been waiting patiently for employment.

Tonight I carried 40 of them from the lane and stacked them neatly on the new concrete. The plan is to get the corners done Thursday and fill the walls in on Sunday. This is all dependant on the weather and straw bales, weather because we need a dry spell to get the block work done and straw bales because the nice man who is teaching me to lay blocks has to get all his straw in before he can spare any time to teach a novice brickie the tricks of the trade. I need to know how to lay blocks properly as even when the walls are done I will still have around 120 left over which just might be enough to build a pig proof sty to replace the tin shack they have so ably destroyed.

All the tricky stuff is being left to the Stable Sprite who is going to transform the rotten woodwork of Rock HQ's workshop into something longer lasting and more in keeping with the stable.

To help me with the fetching and carrying of the concrete breeze blocks I had a random mix of heavy metal blaring out across the yard, loud enough to be heard in the pig pen some 100 metres away. Geisha, above, a mere 2 metres away from the speakers managed to sleep throughout the whole cacophony of distorted guitar solos as I trudged back and forth carrying blocks. She even slept as the dogs charged around sometimes barking in time with the tunes. Unbelievably the second I slid back the bolt on the tack room where her food is kept she heard that, was instantly alert, by my side and jumping in the bucket.