Consider the possibility...

...that you're in the wrong place if you want to be a lazy hermit.

Okay, it's Labor Day weekend. Which, since two of the stakeholders have long weekends and hot projects, means you're pretty much doomed to labor your ass off. I ducked quite a lot of what Landlady had going on, but that maneuvered me neatly into M's new Retaining Wall Nightmare.




It could have been worse, of course. A gigantic asteroid could have struck the Earth and annihilated all life.

No, really, it wasn't all that bad. That's not so much wall for three people to get started on. It's the "get started" part that depresses me. The short, straight wall is now four feet tall, because that's the limit before you have to call in the building inspector. The long, curved wall is a long way from that, and as you can probably see there's a lot of concrete filling in that puppy's future before we let anybody see it...

We got a lot of other stuff done this weekend, as well. I just can't quite remember what it all was. But this afternoon, after Landlady and M went away, I went into the boonies with the Jeep, the two boys, and a drill motor and extension cord to perform an experiment I'd been dreaming of all weekend. I connected all that stuff to an electrical outlet at the Lair, chucked a 1" spade bit into the drill, and aimed the whole thing at a piece of scrap 2X6. I knew my improvised electrical system would light a CFL and run a CD player. My question was would it actually run a motor with some serious torque requirements?

Answer: A Quick One-Inch Hole In A Piece Of Wood. I'm in business.

Heh - M got a couple of big retaining walls, Landlady got a functioning bathroom and kitchen sink. I got a hole in a piece of wood. I'm more excited about the hole than all their accomplishments, which may indicate a slightly skewed perspective. But since I can do that, I can install pipes in the foundation timbers. Do you know how nice it is to be able to say goodbye to cordless tools, after all this time?

Next: Plumbing installation!