Day 46 Sunday, September 16, 2001

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you my better half, my sunshine, my spark, my happiness, Laurie…

Hey there! Mud Queen here…she who makes the mortar mighty and cleans her carousel of concrete with a smile and a hose with no water pressure…now bow before your computers and chant "we are not worthy O High Mudness." It is possible that I am drunk with power…or maybe exhaustion. The foreman here runs a tight ship---up at dawn, work 'til he's hungry--back to the hole…work 'til it's dark. We get 1 bathroom break and then are expected to just sit on a cinder block and tell everyone not to look...(And multiple uses of the same block is encouraged. We don't have THAT many extra.) After dark it's gruel and beans for dinner then lights out by 9:30 ("and NO GIGGLING or I'm coming down there!") Oh, wait-that was my mom at my sleepovers. Sorry-I digress. As we sleep, a tape is played softly with the words "lay block, mix mortar, fast, yet accurate…lay block, mix mortar, etc." You get the picture.

We do have fun in the hole, though. Yesterday, we learned that it takes 2 Post brothers to every 1 Billy to get the same amount of blocks laid. Timmy does the buttering of laid block and Darren corrects him. Then Darren butters the blocks to be laid, and Timmy corrects him. Together they lay the block, then gently press it into place, scream a few hallelujahs, high-five one another and then admire their amazing teamwork. Although not the most efficient system, they are quite accurate, and it's fun to watch and even better to listen to. "Darren--we lay beautiful block together." "Timmy--I couldn't have done it without your guidance." Maybe I'm not quoting, but their words weren't all fit for print.

Today, Darrin S and I and Billy were up early to feast upon poptarts and cookies for breakfast. Out to the hole to mix and lay. (could that be the title to a porn movie??) Billy did half of one long wall ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP!!!! It's pretty tall. If it weren't already dug, I'd ask him why on earth he needs an 8 foot ceiling. So here's what I saw. I mixed, Darrin laid block and Billy worked his way to the top then stuffed a bunch of newspapers in the holes (on the top course, this is). Then he put some threaded metal rods in the top blocks then put a 8" by 2" piece of wood (with a hole in it) onto the threaded end. There was some cursing, then he used a saw or a drill or SOME tool that makes a lot of noise and came from the shed with a smile. He tried it again and again and eventually he was happy. (I'm sure that my description matches 90% of wives everywhere who have watched their husbands do whatever it was that Billy was doing that was so important.) Whatever he was doing, he only has to do 30 more times.

Darrin laid block with a smile and sore left wrist. Going back across the wall he just finished means doing things lefty and Darrin never complained. Happy to hear Billy's melodious singing voice once again, he smiled politely and pressed on. God bless him. If not previously stated anywhere on this website, I have NO NATURAL TALENT and very little ability to learn about laying block (or hammering beams or actually ANYTHING to do with building at all…) so I am grateful to ALL who come to help.

Gotta go. The lights are going out and I hear the tape coming on.

The mud queen looks over her castle: