Concrete...

This week has gone by like a whirl wind- lots of work going on, physical and spiritual both! Ryan, Josh and I finally got the cement pad poured for the garage we've been working on. Thankfully it was without any serious casualties- save for Ryan's poor finger, which got caught in the metal grinder as he cut rebar... it cut through his glove and, as he looked at it, blood started to dribble out :) He said his stomach began to do some very interesting gymnastics :) He ripped the glove off and there, staring up at him, was a nice, deep gash, pouring forth blood. He came walking up to the trailer (where I was gathering up some tools) and showed it to me. Yes, it was pretty gruesome. We thought it might need stitches, but he insisted that he didn't have time to get it checked out. The cement truck was supposed to arrive in 5 minutes :) He's too much like Dad :)

So, some paper towels, some electrical tape and he was ready to go! The cement truck arrived in due time and we began the process of pouring the slab.

When we neared the end, it was unfortunately realized that we would be short a slight amount of concrete- thus, we simply "borrowed" from other places and made up the difference all across the board. Having finished the screeting we then waited for it to set up enough to use the "power trowel" (a  machine which smooths the concrete automatically, instead of kneeling and finishing it all by hand- which is kinda tiring :)

Ry had an estimate to do, so he left Josh and I to finish.

We waited quite a while and decided to try the power trowel. We picked the beast up and settled it down onto the semi-firm concrete's surface- it looked like a large fan, set on its face, with a 9hp gas engine setting on top and long handles protruding out the back. The thing must've weighted 150-200lbs or something like that. It was a beast.

Josh started it up (he has used one before- I have not, so we thought best to have him run it :P ) and turned the blades on- and promptly turned them off; it began to chew and chop its way down into the concrete, instead of gracefully floating on top!!

We looked at each other. This would not work. The 'crete must be too wet still. It was cold and windy, so it probably didn't dry fast enough. Out with the power trowel- humph! Out it came, with a few grunts and a sucking noise as we lifted it up out of the mess it had made.

Josh smoothed out the hole it made and we waited.... and waited.... and waited...

The sun would be going down in about 2 hours and we really didn't want to be doing it in the dark. We tried the power trowel again... unfortunately the same results ensued as before...

Out it came, again. I grabbed the hand trowel and started smoothing a corner. This was more like it- no silly equipment to mess things up- this worked fine for me.

It then dawned upon our tiny brains (and mine a half-brain, at that) that we could just do it by hand. I was more experienced in that method, and really enjoyed it. So, with that settled in our minds, we set to work.

Josh made me some "duck feet" (two 2x6 boards cut at 3 1/2' length, upon which you kneel as you finish the surface) and I got to work. Josh made sure the cement's surface was worked enough and we really went to town.

We finished up in about 45 minutes- maybe not as shiny smooth as the machine would have made it, but it was done- we were very thankful :)

So ended our adventures that day... :)

Today we just kinda did various and sundry things around the house, measured up a roof for an estimate and did some stuff on the computer- and tonight I'm studying for a sermon in the morning.

God bless you all!

-nate