Sunday, November 23, 2014

Fighting Ebola: "DON'T SPIT ON SIDEWALK"

It looks to be another gray rainy Sunday. At least the temperatures are warmer. Katie stopped over Saturday morning and we walked along the river to the new University Boat house. They were having an open house for alumni rowers and guests. Katie rowed for the crew, and I know many of the coaches. What a facility. I wish I had taken my camera. It was still cool enough I did not wear my new camo Utilikilt. I was still “beat up” from Fridays “public service project”.
After getting my halogen wall light fixed up I decided to tackle another project that had been on the back burner for a long time. I’d been joking about installing my “Don’t Spit on Sidewalk” brick into the sidewalk in front of my house for a while. I reasoned it would be my effort to help stop Ebola! The sun was brilliant and the temperatures were warm on Friday. It was time to get the show on the road.
I owe it to my friend Ed for getting me addicted to my angle grinder! He taught me the “in’s and out’s” of how “big boy power tools” can make miserable jobs so much easier. I have to say the brick saw and angle grinder have had such an impact upon my life as to be scary!
I knew this was going to be a real pain in the butt job. The old sidewalk I was cutting into has a lot of gravel mixed it which makes it nearly impossible to drill into, and slow cutting with the diamond wheel. I think bullets will be the best way to outline this project.
  • The brick was laid out and the new location was marked upon the sidewalk.
  • Using the diamond carbide drill bit each of the four corners was drilled out a bit. The bit would not go too deep because of all the gravel.
  • The outline was first cut into the sidewalk. Starting on the north side of this cut out, the inside was scored into small sections and chiseled out with a steel chisel and sledge hammer. This starting area was the worst as there was so little area to work in. Ever so slowly the first half of the opening got cleaned out.
  • With more room to work with the second half was cut out much easier and faster. All the while I was working in a cloud of dust and playing John Henry with the chisel and sledge hammer, the game day party was being set up across the street. I could just imagine what the people were thinking of the commotion going on!
  • My poor 4”diamond wheel was toast by the time I was doing the final fitting. This entailed making a duct tape sling to hold the brick to lower and raise it from the opening for the process of cleaning out the corners. With the initial space cleaned out this went amazingly quick.

Cleaning up the edges before the final installation:
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm80/brick1101/001-149.jpg
A small batch of mortar was mixed up and the brick was tapped into place with the rubber mallet. Ed’s dad was an expert bricklayer. Ed gave me bunch of his dad’s mason tools. These “jointers” have been invaluable to me these past few brick projects. What difference having the right tools makes. I used these jointer tools to pack and clean the side mortar joints.
Jointer tools: 
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm80/brick1101/masonjointer.jpg
Finished installation:
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm80/brick1101/sidewalkbrick.jpg
I was asked to post a picture of my “granny square”. I documented the origin and progress of this 10 years ago at Open Diary. This poor “granny square” started out as a joke in the skill center at work which eventually took on a life of its own. Coworkers would bring me leftover yarn from their projects. When it would be time to start another round a vote would be taken of whoever was in the skill center as to what the colour should be! It can make you dizzy to look at it too long! There are 86 rounds on this. I crochet very tight so this works out to a lot of yarn. The thing weighs a ton! I still add to it when the fancy hits.
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm80/brick1101/grannysquare.jpg
Stumpy just came in from outside. He made the rounds around my house and Michele’s house next door so he is ready for a break. He is now on my lap getting pets and rubs. He is purring his heart out. Things are good…..
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm80/brick1101/003-101.jpg