Just in the Saint Nick of Time

  So, our hopes of finishing the walkway before Christmas dissolved on last Friday's snowy afternoon, as it rapidly became clear that we were short on stone.  We covered everything with heating blankets and headed home for the holidays, wondering aloud if we would possibly see another day warm enough to finish before Spring.  Christmas came...

and went...

  And lo and behold, Monday bore temperatures nearing fifty.  So we headed out early in search of enough bluestone to finish, which proved to be more difficult than we had anticipated.  The forecast was calling for temperatures in the single digits and we knew we had to finish before nightfall.  Viking Hardscapes, bless 'em, had no open pallets.  We drove out to JC Stone in Widsor and they were completely out. They suggested we drive down to NC Hunt in Damariscotta, which we did, and they had exactly what we needed. They are always a pleasure to deal with, by the way.
  It was ten o'clock by the time we reached the jobsite and we must have looked like a couple of lunatics, with saws roaring, dust clouds rising, rocks flying, running back and forth to the stone dust pile, hammers and chisels and swearing--determined to finish before sunset.  And we did.

  We left out a few stones up near the house, so the carpenters can finish their addition, and we'll be back in the Spring to loam the edges and cracks.  I believe the plan is to plant thyme or some kind of "steppable".  I like it. Damon likes it. The homeowners seem to like it. It has, as Mike said, "A kind of fairy-tale cottage feel."

Sheep Meadow Farm

  Damon and I spent last week at Sheep Meadow Farm on the island of North Haven, doing a job for Dan Ucci of Ledge Hill Creations.  As some of you may know, we were out there last year for about seven months, and it was nice to come back. The isolation of the place really bothers some people, but I find it hard to leave.
 Anyway, we went out to Sheep Meadow and built a circular patio with a 15-foot diameter out of what is commonly referred to as stand-up blue stone. That doesn't mean it is stone with sound moral and ethical standards, but blue-stone that is actually stood up on edge on the pallets, so as to make for difficult and unwieldy transport.  Here are a few shots of the farm and estate:

  The caretakers Doug and Kenny pretty much had the spot dug out for us and prepped when we arrived.  They removed yards of wet clay, put in drainage, and covered it with compacting sand.  So all we had to do was fire up the compactor and run circles around it for an hour.

  We spent the next few days laying out the stones, cutting and chiseling joints a half to two inches.  We worked till dark every day and spent the evenings relaxing and reading in the comfortably furnished guest apartment.  We finished on Friday and drew our radius, with Damon on the center point and me at the other end of a 7 and a half foot string, drawing a perfect circle, which we then cut out with the saw.

  Just in time to catch the next ferry home, which made Damon very happy.