Relative Something

I suffered a rough night’s sleep, ruminating about the difficulties we experienced in getting stones to remain attached to the wall with the miracle substance, “StickyStone.” Cyndie and I decided to add a step to our preparation, hoping to finish the project with a higher rate of success by the end of the day yesterday.

I found some moderately rough sandpaper that we used to flatten high points on the underside of the manufactured stones.

On Wednesday, several of the stones would teeter a little after we pressed them into place and I expect that directly worked against a secure bond between the two surfaces. The rough, uneven texture on the back is probably a plus when using masonry mud on a scratch coat to get things to hold firm. We had chosen a method that allowed me to avoid slapping mud around due to my lack of know-how. (Regardless of how many instructional YouTube videos might exist.)

That last added step of preparation seemed to do the trick. Initially, I expected to have more than enough adhesive, but after making so many second and third attempts on Wednesday, the dwindling supply, identifiable by the ever-shortening rod of the plunger in the gun, had me wishing I’d bought a second tube.

I pushed my luck and doled out the adhesive in increasingly smaller doses as we worked our way around the last corner. We finished with almost nothing left in the tube.

For a before and after comparison, this is what one corner looked like before the log home builders trimmed off the bottom portions that were rotting:

They cut them pretty high and framed up the exposed area with treated lumber. By yesterday afternoon, this shows the change:

I will not attempt to remedy the heaving pavers on the ground that have become more problematic every year. We talked to a professional landscaper yesterday who stopped by for a consultation on dealing with the many interrelated issues contributing to the problems.

It leaves me wanting to go home and deal with problems more within my reach, like trying to knock down lush green grass that gets almost too tall for my mower in just a few days after a previous cut.

The added preparation step for mowing the ridiculously tall grass involves a first pass with the string trimmer in the areas of most difficulty. Somehow, that needs to be achieved without too much delay in getting back to mow areas that haven’t gotten out of control yet.

We definitely need the added hours of daylight we’ve been gaining as the planet hurtles toward the summer solstice next month. It’s getting hard for me to remember those wonderful days of winter when so little demand on my time and attention was a dominating theme.

Ah, those were the days.

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