2010

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And now the hard part.
Four tractor-trailer loads of this stone. Each slab several hundred pounds.
It all came to the farm, several pieces at a time, in January of 1986 in the Mighty El Camino with the help of his puppy Katie.
Notice on this piece, the back side is carved the decoration of the original structure which burned down in 1889.
The other re-furbished side is what will be seen as it was in the structure built in 1890 (see 1953 photo).
Missing are some discs of photos of the early rows of stone laid down. That was the easy part anyway.
What got difficult was when slabs of stone had to be raised ten, twenty, or thirty feet in the air.

The slabs of stone were loaded by hand onto this cart Dean built.
Believe it or not, because of the weight of these stones, extreme cold and frozen ground was a blessing. Mud was not.
All the carrots in the world would not convince this recalcitrant animal to pull the cart.
Dean rigged up a nylon harness that hooked to the cart and went over his shoulders so he could pull it (while "Goatley" watched).

Here is a sequence of photos which demonstrate what was involved in getting a stone up onto the building and the laying it.
Here a large slab is in dual nylon slings and about five feet off the ground as the chain hoist (manual of course) begins to raise it.

Same level, clearer view.

About halfway up with a view of the chain hoist (manual of course) and the trolley on the bar joists provided by Bellon Wrecking.

Just about up. Notice the 2 x 4 against the wall. this keeps the stone from scratching the installed stones.

Finally, it is safely upon the ledge where it can be delivered by the trolley to where it is to be installed..

The trolley positions it to where it is to be set. Now the straps have to be extricated.
Notice the electrical lines running along the way. This is the north wall.

It is set into place. Behind it see a mechanism of Dean's own design.
With the black rubber pads it will squeeze the stone by compressing it with the use of its own weight.
The mechanism will lift the stone enough to get out the nylon straps and put masonry mortar underneath it before permanently setting it.

And 'thar she blows'. Notice the tub of masonry mortar. Also notice the small Tiger lever hoists for leveling.
It is possible to set one stone in one day. The following day after the mortar sets up, the concrete blocks will be laid behind the stone.
The day after that, the blocks will be filled with steel rebar and concrete.
The day after that, the irregular space between the blocks and the stone will be filled with steel rebar and concrete.
Thus it takes four days per stone. It took one year (2010) for the first floor and it took two years for the second floor (2011 and 2012).
The northeast corner was still unfinished until after 2016 for various reasons (exhaustion among them).

Setting the corner stones was much more problematic. They were much more massive and much thicker.
The rubber gripper/grabber could not open far enough to grasp them.
Therefore, they had to be drilled and have concrete anchors embedded and be lifted by eyebolts.
At this particular corner a time-capsule was installed. Hopefully the building will endure several thousand years.

Inside the time capsule were put various photos.
Pets.

Children

More children.

Children?
Notice no spouses or princesses. Drapes didn't match the linoleum- outta here...

Die Eltern.

Dean deserves a little advertising here.
Hey girls, we've got a princess vacancy opening up. Ain't gonna happen. No one wants to work this hard for so little.
Also in the time capsule is the family genealogy, Dean's ten mathematics books he wrote and an American flag.

The time capsule contains photos of the way things were several thousand years ago- about the year 2000.
That is before global warming and the disappearance of Florida. What's that white stuff?
With the onset of "white stuff" and freezing temperatures, stone masonry becomes a bit more problematic. This winds up 2010.

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