I have been out of town for almost a week following the death of my beloved grandmother Mimi, but now it is time to pick up the pieces and get back to work.  I had to take a break from the walkway project because the ground wouldn't thaw and the owners went out of town, so I worked on some columns in Banner Elk.

The strings on each corner are critical to building a square and plumb column.  I would be lost without them.
Today I went to Boone to acid clean the walkway.  We do this when weather or other factors have caused the mortar to stain the stones.  A rainy day like today is the perfect time because the stones need to be wet when the acid is applied.

The only tools I needed today were a hose, brush, bucket, acid, and a raincoat.

Tough day today.  We were trying to finish the small walls and curb, which would have basically finished the job, but a few setbacks kept us from acheiving that goal.  We had some problems with the design, and I lost a crew member over the weekend to a hardware store job.  So now we have to hunker down for yet another week or so of below freezing, snowy weather...

Well, today I am feeling optimistic, and I want to write about what I see for the future of Living Stone, starting with the recent past.  The last two years have overall been good for us.  I have had the most wonderful clients any stonemason could ask for, and I have had the privilege of working on unique projects of my own design.  I have, for the most part, had good help and a solid team.  My only real low point has been the last 4 months or so.  Work sort of came to an abrupt halt sometime in October, and by the time we started our current project, the weather made it impossible to work 9 out of 10 days.  Which brings me to now-about to finish a long overdue project with not much on the horizon.  I do have one or two small jobs I can do, but nothing significant lined up.  That does not stop me from being optimistic about the future, however.  I believe that a big job will come through, or at least enough small to medium sized jobs.  What makes me so optimistic is that building with stone is my passion, and I refuse to accept the idea that I wont have the opportunity to pursue something I love.  That being said, what I see and hope for is to grow my business by partnering with new clients and builders, to be involved with projects that will push the limits of my creativity and skills, and to build my team in order to take on bigger more challenging projects.
    In reality, though, I would settle for the way things have been, just with a little more consistency and a slightly milder winter.  When it comes down it, I don't do stonework for the money; I do it because I need to feel my hammer hitting stones and chisels, and I need the satisfaction of fitting unlikely shapes together.  To tell you the truth, I am addicted.  That's my confession:  I enjoy what I do so much, I should probably be paying my clients instead of the other way around.  On the best days, time goes by too quickly, and it passes in such a way that I am disappointed when its time to go home.  In fact, I rarely even notice the time except  to decide if we need more mud.  So I guess I could say that whatever the future brings, as long as I have my hammer and pile of stones to work, everything will be fine.
   

Today was another blustery one.  After a warmish morning, the temperature started to drop and we were all frozen by quitting time.  Yep winter in these mountains can be bipolar and trying to figure out the weather is a real challenge.
I've noticed in the summertime when work is busy I have a very different attitude regarding the weather.  I take the stance of "unless its pouring when I wake up, lets just show up at work and see what happens."  Most days this pays off, as the rain seems to let up enough to make the drive worthwhile.  And whats the worst that could happen?  Get wet and have to drive home? No biggie.  So I don't even really check the forecast half the time.  Winter now, that's a different story.  I become obsessed with the weather, checking two or three different sites, hourly forecasts, 10 day forecasts on a quest to determine when it will get warm enough to work.  I become an amateur weather forecaster really, because its up to me whether or not we work, and other people are depending on me for income or completion of a project.  Its not a decision I take lightly, and this winter and the last it has been particularly hard for me as there have been weeks and months at a time when I could not keep myself or my crew busy and have not been able to advance the project.  In fact, last winter I was shoveling snow at the jobsite and my clients asked me to go home and come back when the snow melted because they were worried we would get hurt.  Anyway, this time of year I think alot of us start fantasizing about moving somewhere warmer.