What a Day... What a Day!

It's about 4:00 in the afternoon and I am fighting to stay awake.... it's going to be a longggg night! 

Spent most of the day outside working on my wall.... yeah... you'd think I'd of gotten a little farther along... it's a slow process. 

Here's a reminder of where I started:

 

And, yep.... this is all I got done today (hours of work... amazingly):

 I knew the first day was going to be a bear (probably why I've procrastinated so long on this project).... I am putting in the base.... normally if you tile you put a piece of wood down to support the tile as you build up the wall.... I don't want holes in the wall or glue spots so I would put on a piece of tile and let it dry a bit before adding the next one.... like I said... it's a slow process.  I am nearly done with the base though..... next time should go much faster.

BTW.... this is my "water"..... I want a linear, geometric look to it and I fell in love with slate (I bought 12" sq. tiles and am cutting them into 3" strips)... not a literal translation of water but I'm already starting to "see" it so it's exciting.  It's also time consuming trying to keep it all level.... it's working.... just slow!

This is what I use to mix my mortar.... since it is such a slow process I don't want to mix too much at a time so this works great..... I mix in a gallon ice cream tub....

 

One of my visitor's today..... If you look at the picture of my wall on the left is a tall grass.... that's what you're seeing to the right of this picture... The concrete wall makes a 90 with this stone retaining wall.... this here is our little buddy.... my, how he's grown!  Every year since we put this wall in we've seen him here... he likes his new home!

These were my other guests today......  they belong to my neighbor but if I'm outside they spend their time over here "helping" me!  Funny story..... Look back at the picture of my wall.... I had just taken pictures of the snake right around the corner and I'm now sitting between the grass and that white bucket when these little guys came running around that corner.... my heart nearly jumped out of my chest.... and I do believe my butt left the ground.  They scared me half to death! 

 

Can't remember their names (I call them my own little made up names anyhow) but this is the little boy..... he's a timid little guy.... very sweet.

 

And this is his feisty sister.... also adorable.

 

Now I'm resting.... windows are open and I'm going to sleep like a baby tonight.  Hope you've enjoyed your day!