WEEK 1 - Shoveling, Wheelbarrowing, and Pounding:
During the first few days of building the house, our main task was to keep building up the foundation of the house. Unfortunately, that meant that we had to continuously do A LOT of 2 things: shoveling and wheel-barrowing. Upon our arrival to the worksite each day, we were greeted by a giant pile of dirt that we needed to shovel into 2 wheelbarrows (each of which had a wonky, semi-deflated wheel). Then, we would roll each barrel of dirt into the rooms of the house until the spaces were leveled to align with the first row of bricks. Needless to say, we moved THOUSANDS of wheelbarrows of dirt from the outside of house to its interior. Yes, it was a tedious, monotonous, and strenuous job, but personally speaking, I found it quite therapeutic... There's just something about shoveling that can just calm you. ::SHRUGS:: I know...I still haven't quite figured it out yet.
Anyway, these two videos show Caro and Chris executing the next step to the process: pounding the floors flat. We all HATED this step, but in the end it taught me a fews things:
1) We are so fortunate to have machinery that can do this.
2) Manually pounding flat dirt floors using a 15-lb cement block attached to a pole can be a great workout for your biceps and triceps.
3) Callouses on your hands and stubbed toes (no matter how painful) do, in fact, heal.
Join us next week as we learn the art of brick-laying!!!
