{"id":27073,"date":"2016-09-15T12:40:08","date_gmt":"2016-09-15T19:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/?p=27073"},"modified":"2016-09-15T18:10:27","modified_gmt":"2016-09-16T01:10:27","slug":"big-scary-project-almost-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/15\/big-scary-project-almost-there\/","title":{"rendered":"Big, scary project: almost there"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"northsideofhouse_regrading-retaining-wall-project-gettingthere_091516\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"northsideofhouse_regrading-retaining-wall-project-monksittingdownonthejob_091516\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Getting there. The Wandering Monk will finish the north-side wall (the one he’s sitting on) by early this afternoon. I’ve been out there working with him all week, but today I’m indoors, online, taking care of new-site business. Anyhow, face it. Though I can shovel rock and make artistic decisions, he’s about twice as efficient as I am at the heavy lifting.<\/p>\n

We’re leaving the east-side wall just two blocks high for now so we can monitor the drainage behind it when the rains come this weekend. But that north wall, the long wall, the high wall, the wall requiring the big concrete footer, the wall at the bottom of the big hill. Done today.<\/p>\n

Funny, though. The walls are a mix of rose-colored block (4\/5) and gray block (1\/5). The idea is to place the grays at carefully chosen “random” intervals, creating an asymmetrical balance of colors. The Monk, however, is extremely OCD and orderly. Randomness — even carefully planned randomness — drives him crazy. Now that I’m not out there saying, “We need a gray here” or “Three rose and then a gray,” he’s having the hardest time preventing tidy patterns from working into the design. <\/p>\n

He’s aware of the problem, though. Laughing at his own proclivities and beginning to get the idea that balance doesn’t have to mean rigid arrangements.<\/p>\n

And if you’re asking what that big, seven-foot gap between walls is: It’s the site of a future stairway, to be undertaken next spring. The stair will lead to a tiny Japanese (or at least somewhat vaguely reminiscent of Japanese-ish) garden there in the corner and along the fenceline.<\/p>\n

UPDATES:<\/p>\n

\"northsideofhouse_regrading-retaining-wall-project-onewallfinished_091516\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"northsideofhouse_regrading-retaining-wall-project-onewallfinished-02_091516\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Getting there. The Wandering Monk will finish the north-side wall (the one he’s sitting on) by early this afternoon. I’ve been out there working with him all week, but today I’m indoors, online, taking care of new-site business. Anyhow, face it. Though I can shovel rock and make artistic decisions, he’s about twice as efficient as I am at the heavy lifting. We’re leaving the east-side wall just two blocks high for now so we can monitor the drainage behind it when the rains come this weekend. But that north wall, the long wall, the high wall, the wall requiring…<\/p>\n

Continue readingBig, scary project: almost there<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-and-aesthetics","category-home-improvement","ratio-natural","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27073"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27098,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27073\/revisions\/27098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}