A Saturday Full of Cement

Phase two of the yard project occurred this weekend. The day really got started when the huge red and yellow cement truck pulled up and started mixing cement. The guys got busy preparing to pour the cement in the latest portions of the retaining wall forms. It was actually kind of exciting! A long hose goes from the truck to the "form." The hose is extremely heavy. Scotty, our good friend, is the guy in the white hat in picture #2. At one point, he was standing there with this small box hanging around his neck on a lanyard. The box had two buttons - start and stop - and enabled him to control what came through the hose. He pretty much just stood there continuously asking whoever was holding the cement hose, "enough? enough? enough?" I think the thing that makes it exciting is that there's an element of mystery surrounding the whole process. As James described it (quite perfectly I might add), "it 's an educated crap-shoot." Yikes. And also, you just don't want cement to go anyplace it's not supposed to go. The stuff dries faster than you'd think, and well, it dries as hard as cement.