Saturday, August 30, 2008

An Adventure in Cement

Our latest home improvement project had us pouring a small cement patio out our back kitchen door. Deb and Ken's good friend, Connie (Conrad) Marsolek had offered to help us with this "simple" undertaking as a favor to Deb and Ken--what a nice guy! Turns out, this project was more than we anticipated it would be with all of the shoveling, leveling, and back-breaking labor (that last part is my opinion--I hope to not lay eyes on a shovel for a very long time!).
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Here is what my back yard looks like today!!!!
(thanks to Andrew for the wonderful picture...)
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Ken, Deb, and Connie helped Jamie and I get the site ready last weekend. Actually, Connie did all of the hard work in planning and figuring, as well as the labor. Ken, Jamie, and I were the "grunts"--did I mention my new-found dislike for shovels! And, Debbie was the Foreman, or Forewoman, as it maybe. True to administrative form, we caught our Forewoman napping on the job!
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Jamie and Connie leveling the site...

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Kenny showing off his muscle with the sledgehammer!

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Connie and Ken--more leveling! Who knew there was this much work involved in pouring cement?!?

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Once the site was finally ready (after Friday night, all day Saturday, and Sunday morning of hard work!), the next job was keeping the dogs out of the dirt for the whole week! Believe me, they were curious and Sophie wanted to "help" dig the hole!
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Bright and early on Saturday (6:45 am), Connie showed up with his "guys" to pour our cement! It was VERY interesting to watch, and I was more than a little jealous of the guys that got to gush around in the cement with their rubber boots on--it looked like fun!

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Here is Connie supervising the cement loading into the wheelbarrow...

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The Finishers--see all of the rough cement they got to stomp around in behind them--kinda like cow manure in the pasture, but without the smell!

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Ken and Jamie--wheelin' in another load!~~~

The Cement Crew!

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Our cement looks great, and it will be nice to put a table and chairs out there to enjoy our back yard some more. Thanks to Connie and his crew and to Ken and Deb for all of their help with our "project"!

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One last Consumer Alert before I sign off...CRACK KILLS!!!!

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Happy Saturday!

2 comments:

Pat said...

Looks good in the pictures, need to get over to your place and check it out.

I thought plumbers were the only ones with 'cracks' :)

Mom

The Dorwin's said...

What a lot of work!! But it is worth it in the end and it looks great!

I thought farmers were the only ones with cracks :)