Hello and holiday wishes! It has been some time since I published a newsletter - since before the 11th of September. It seems the shock of September the 11th seemed affected everybody in a different way. For me personally, it manifested as writers block. FinallyI am attempting to exorcise the demon by sharing a couple of things before I move along. I was writing a Multitorial when my son called and told me to turn on the news. I was of couse shocked and saddened. I am not a TV person, but for the next three days I sat numb and mortified and I watched the aftermath unfold. When I finally went back to my keyboard I sat and stared for hours and even the simplest of phrases wouldn't come. Then I got some release when I heard the Alan Jackson song: "Where Were You". The chorus seemed to put into words what I couldn't express:
I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I could
Tell you the difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith, hope and love are some good things He gave us
And the greatest is love
It seemed to free up some of grief that had frozen in me and it brought some relief to the intensity that I couldn't seem to shake. I've held the thousands of victims in my heart and the grief of it all will never go away, perhaps the lessening of intensity is the best I can hope for.
I have been very busy working in the field contracting and taking pictures and videos - watch for Multitorial updates coming your way soon. There are some new pictures and one video (you will need QuickTime to play the video) posted on my web site. I learned some things as I built the pond that you will find posted there. I will also share some of those things here, but first I want to give you some tips and tricks:
Bent Steel Stakes: You can straighten a bent stake or short piece of rebar very easily by holding the stake in your dominant hand, a sledge hammer in the other and whacking the stake on the sledge hammer. Sight down the stake and find the center of the bend. Holding the bend with the convex side pointing towards the stake, simply smack the stake against the sledge. Check for straight again and repeat if necessary. For Multiple bends, repeat at the center of each curve.
PVC Glue Holder: I had to purchase a special float for the pond I just finished and the supplier was an ex-plumber. I told him a funny story about me holding the primer in the same hand that I had a fitting in and dumping out the primer when I turned the fitting over to glue onto the pipe (sort of like checking for the time on your wrist watch while holding a glass of water :o). He told me a very simple and efficient trick: Tape the primer can and the glue can together! That trick stopped the spills. I could manage both cans in one hand. It was easier to set them down with out spilling the contents of either because they were more stable.
Keeping A Chalk Line: Chalk lines are great, just stretch a string from one point to the other and snap the line and bingo, an instant straight line! However, since the line is made of chalk, if it rains or you sweep or wash the surface, the line disappears. If you want the line to stay more or less permanently, spray with hair spray immediately after snapping the line and it will be there months from now. Obviously, this should be used only when the line will be covered after you finish.
Low Voltage Lighting
I found some really cool submersible lights for the pond I just built (see: Youdelman Gallery). They run on 12 volts just like the landscape lighting you see everywhere now days. They were easy to install and easy to hide. The trick is to leave enough wire coiled so the light can be lifted out of the water when you change a bulb - otherwise you would have to drain the pond, pool etc.
When I bid the pond, the home owner, Larry Youdelman, told me he wanted a couple of lights. He already had some low voltage lighting transformers installed, so I planned to buy a couple of lights and hook them up to the existing wire that ran just a few feet from the front of the proposed pond. That is what I did. But after they were installed and he saw the pond with the lights on, he called and asked me to come over. I did and I agreed with him, it wasn't as magical as we both would have liked it to be.
I am a good mason, and I have dabbled with some yard lighting, but I hadn't really done any research. After two subsequent trips back to his house, we still weren't satisfied. He gave me the name and number of the company that had supplied the other lights in his yard. I went to their store and I was amazed by the selection! I wondered around their warehouse and found the submersibles. I bought two for an experiment. When I put them in the pond and turned them on, everything changed! We went from a diamond in the rough to a clear cut fully polished jewel! The depth and crystalline quality was so dramatic that we opted to put in four lights total.
My pond building will never be the same! In a way it seems silly that I hadn't researched this before; since then I've noticed every lighted water feature I see - whether around town, on TV or in a movie. Then I remembered all the elaborate lighting I've seen in water features in Las Vegas, theme parks and even Malls... DUH! It amazes me how much I still learn after almost thirty years!
While I was there I built two columns with a glass block ribbon at the top and installed 15 wattt low voltage lights in the columns (see: Youdelman Columns), too! I stongly suggest you look into low voltage. Home Depot has a limited line - I didn't find the submersibles there, but they do have the transformers and a good selection of yard lights.
I will be updating the Ponds On A Budget, Multitorial next month with this new feature! For those of you that don't have that but are interested in this type of lighting, I advise you to look in your yellow pages and make some calls to professional landscaping, irrigation or lighting suppliers and start talking. I was pleased with the amount of info available and I was amazed at how easy - and safe - low voltage is to work with. You may want a contractor to come out and install the transformer - which by the way is the only expensive part of low voltage lighting - but from there installing the wire and lights are a snap!
God Bless Our Freedom!
Thanks for listening!
Love, Light & Happy Building!
Rusty Cline,
President: Monument
Masonry, Inc.