Instant trees (almost)

Today was a relatively quiet day on the jobsite. The trades were all off for the weekend. Our crew was limited to Peter, Hailey and myself. Bec came to help when we were in a hurry to carve the mud and Janis poked by regularly to help us make decisions about how we would do things.

Today's project was to sculpt the first of the trees for the porch area. We dragged out our old paddle mixer, dubbed the 'PURPLE PEOPLE EATER' on account of the vicious blades that whirl to mix the concrete. Peter and I took turns mixing the grey concoction and we both applied a heavy coat of mud to two trees that flanked the round entry doorway. As always we weren't content to merely do one sample tree. I took one side while Peter tackled the other. In a constant (but friendly) game of one upmanship the surrounding walls got a coat of mud as well and before we were done the whole west wall of the house had gotten the treatment, save for some rockwork at the bottom. By lunchtime the mud was applied and it was time to begin the sculpting.

We worked the theme of hearts into the cut ends of the tree branches just for fun. It's subtle but there for those who look.

The trees changed the look of the entry, making it instantly magic. 

The trees and beams lining the porch will have to wait until the soffits are in place a couple of weeks from now. I can hardly wait!

As we admire the new look of the house this evening it was a little hard to believe it was only a few short weeks ago we were paintling lines on the lawn and imagining how the house would look. Now, at last it is taking shape!

-grampa dan