The Barefoot Mason

 On my knees, with sweat dripping off my brow and the sun sweltering overhead, I continued to work on stone this week while Barb stood over me, broom in hand, swatting me on my back demanding I work faster. "Is this what Dino feels like in the soup trailer day after day after day?" I thought to myself. This is no way for a man to live. My knees, exposed and bloody, were aching for relief, the denim on my jeans having worn through days before.  With luck, I would be done by weeks end when I might get a few days of respite before Barb hits me with my next task.  

Stone by stone we continued on south along the side of the building until one day, I think it was Friday, I hit the end! I looked back north, along the 88-foot span and a single tear rolled down my face before hitting the concrete and sizzling into oblivion. "Please Ma'am, may I have a drink of water?"  Swat! "Go back and fill those holes you left!"

The next two days were filled with me chipping and grinding stone to fit in the holes to finish out the wall. When there were no more holes to fill, I collapsed to the ground in shear exhaustion. I was done!

Barb, with the broom she beats me with

That might not be exactly the way the week went but somedays I certainly felt that way. We continued on with our "Bag a day" goal. The day would start out with Barb and I heading out to the porch just after breakfast spending 30-45 minutes finding stones to fit the next layer of the wall. I would then mix a 1/2 bag of mortar and put the stones on the wall. Once that wheelbarrow full of mud was done, we would take a break for lunch and do the same thing in the afternoon. 

The title of this post? That came about when Kevin and I were working last Sunday and he turned to me and said "Nelson, I have known a lot of masons, but I have to say, you are the first barefooted mason I have ever met!"

But this week we got a little help in the form of a friend of ours who stopped by for a few days! Jeanie came to visit! Here is my convoluted way of describing who Jeanie is and how we came to be friends. Jeanie is the aunt-in-law of Chris at the farm whose dad was my best friend in high school, who has a brother named Dan who married a woman named Jeanie. Got it? She is also the Jeanie of Jeanie and Dan who used to own Prairie Smoke Ranch in north central North Dakota and also the Jeanie who we visited in early June up near Long Prairie, MN. AND the Jeanie whose name will be forever cursed by me for getting Barb into accordions. And now, she will also be known as Jeanie the Mason. 

        Jeanie searching for a home for a stone.       Me, mudding a stone with Jeanie in the background.

The weather this week was actually perfect for working outside. We did not have one day that hit over 70°, two days it only the mid 50's. We started out the week by working inside where we emptied out our workshop. 

We are going to get the floors epoxied! We thought about doing it ourselves, but with everything else we had going on and the fact that we had never epoxied a floor before and wanted it done right, we decided to hire it out. 

In hindsight, I am glad we did not attempt it. Austin arrived bright and early Monday morning where he spent a few hours sanding the floor with a big scrubber to rough up the surface. 

By the end of that day the floor was all scuffed up and the sides masked off. He came back the next day, laid down a layer of epoxy and the flakes. He wore some shoes very similar to golf shoes but with extra-long spikes, so they did not leave footprints in the epoxy. He then laid down a thick layer of flakes on top of the wet epoxy and worked them in with a huge trowel type tool.

He came back the next day with a huge scraper and scraped off the flakes exposed above the dried epoxy, vacuumed up the residue and put another layer of epoxy on top of that. Then he returned the next day for the final coat of epoxy. We love it!

We also had a frustrating day when our truck dash displayed a warning sign "Service DEF System, Contact Dealer". Well, that cannot be good. Barb contacted the Dodge Service Manager in Rapid City who said their first opening was August 24th. What?!?! He went on to ask Barb when we filled the DEF tank last. A couple days before. He then asked how old was the DEF? We had stocked up on DEF a while back and we figured this DEF was a little over a year old. He said, that was the problem, he would not use DEF over 6 months old. 

Barb asked if there was a way we could drain it and he said no, the best bet was to put a heavy load on the truck and try to burn through it. During lunch that day I googled if it was possible to drain the DEF tank on a '22 Ram 3500 and found a video with a pretty easy method so into the garage I went!

I was able to drain almost all of it out and put a new jug in. I took the truck out and put the hammer down up and down the road for 20 minutes, reset the code with my code reader and it was fixed! So far, so good, hopefully crisis averted. We did keep our August 24th appointment, just in case. 

But the week was not all work, we had something going on almost every day. Wednesday found us in our side-by-side driving through Wind Cave National Park, a short 15-minute drive down the road. 

That night found us in Custer meeting up with Dan and Bonnie for our regular Wednesday night out.

Thursday, we had our neighbors Jim and Carmen over for a supper of Canadian walleye! Friday, we were off to Custer State Park with Dale and Ruth who are still in town for a week. We hiked the Sylvan Lake loop, a beautiful 1.1-mile loop around the lake. It was crowded but not horrible.

That afternoon Jeanie arrived, and we spent the afternoon on the patio catching up. 

Saturday, we hit the stone pretty hard. With both Barb and Jeanie placing stones for me to mud, we went through a bag in short order. Those two then jumped in the side-by-side leaving orders for me to continue with the stone while they were gone. They hit both Wind Cave NP and the Wildlife Loop in Custer SP.

                       Two wild and crazy gals!                                  Jeanie sneaking up on an antelope.

Here is a very short video that Jeanie took while passing through a buffalo herd.

That night, Jeanie went to a party at a friend's house while Barb and I went over to our friends Doug and Lisa's for supper. We had not seen them in several months, so it was great to see them and catch up. 

Sunday found me filling the last of the holes in stone while Barb and Jeanie were inside serenading me with their accordion skills. It sounded like a couple of cats having a back ally fight making me glad that I was outside. Actually, they sounded pretty good, and will be ready for the circuit soon! That night we had a grilled trout that either Barb or I (probably Barb) had caught out of Pactola earlier in the year. 

Monday, Jeanie's last day here, found us at Ditch Creek seeking the ever-elusive rainbow trout!  The trout lived up to their title and did prove to be elusive, but we had a great time!

Jeanie is also training for a 2.1-mile swim in Lake Superior in early August where she will be swimming from Bayfield Wisconsin to Madeline Island. We chose Deerfield Lake for her swim because it is the coldest lake in the area at a chilly 58 degrees, close the 52 degrees she will be experiencing in Superior. 

Luckily, she has this wetsuit, which not only helps keep her warm but also helps with buoyancy! 

What better way to finish off the day and her visit than a visit to The Lost Cabin Brewing Co. which just opened a branch in Hill City!

So there goes another week, sore, tired scarred with broom marks but I survived. Now perhaps I can rest, that is, until she comes up with another project to make me tackle!