And we're in the final stretch

of forms that is. Friday we went up to the lot early to check on the forms, make sure they were cleared out, that sort of thing. The truck was scheduled to come at 1 in the afternoon. Well, the forms had held up well and there was little additional cleaning to do, a few grains of sand, some leaves. Two needed to be brushed down with the wire brush and then swept out again as some dirt had built up on them.

But we finished our task early and had time to kill, so began to do little things around the lot, clip branches off downed trees in the swampy area so they fall even closer to the ground. My theory is the flatter they are, the faster they will turn into dirt. And there we need the dirt. Bill mowed the little grass that we have out there. But still we had time to kill, so just sat around near the point that juts out into the lake where the black flies were better, because of the breeze.

We had lunch, rosemary chicken salad with lettuce on flax bagels, but still no cement truck. Bill started to worry that he was having trouble finding us, so drove up to the road to meet him. About 10 minutes later from our chair on the lakefront I could see the truck driving along Ardoch Road.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, there is Bill and the truck just behind him. The driver has been doing this for 20 some years and is quite helpful. We'd been hoping that the truck might fit between two rows of forms, but the measurements are so tight, the driver expresses concern of the pressure on the sand and dirt packed around the forms and that it might actually displace some of the forms. So it is decided that we will wheel barrow the cement to the forms.

The driver helps and between the 2 of them dumping the cement into each form, Bill checking for the fill line and pounding the cement with the pounding tool (a 12" heavy metal plate with a long handle) to get the bubbles out and and me leveling and smoothing, it all goes quite well.
The cement is thick with aggregate, but does not dry so quickly that it is a problem that I am 3-4 forms behind them. It was all over with in barely over an hour.

We clean up, wash down all the tools, cover the forms and head home. Saturday, we go up to check on things and spray down the cement to help slow the curing process. Everything seems to be just fine.

Bill has already ordered the blocks, cement bags and aggregate for the piers. That is next weekends project.