The elements and obligations or lack thereof have now conspired to allow me to return to the beach with enough time to play with the stones. Last year's model is now obsolete and so begins the long process of updating.
Step number one, remove the east tower and re-stack the stone someplace out of the way. My solution was to make little stacks on the retaining wall, but also to put some on top of the center tower, just to see how high I could go.
Then, remove the west tower and put that stone someplace. So I put some more on the middle tower and made more little stacks on the retaining wall, but after having learned a lesson from previous re-stackings, I stacked them based on size, so I could use the bigger stones as foundation stones. Good thinking, me. Thank you , me.
I would guess that the central tower was close to 14 feet high, before I stopped adding to it, as it was too hard for me to get the stone up there and I have no great love for precarious perches.
Second tower down to the ground and now I am forced to think ahead to new forms. I must admit that the stones have not been very clear in their expectations for this year so I am hemming and hawing a bit to see if I can pick up any clues as to what happens next.
In the mean time, I was also stacking some stone on the serpentine wall that connects to the big basin. And during this two week time we had three magnificent storms that contributed to this Maya being the wettest May on record in Erie. They also contributed about three feet of eroded soil behind the retaining wall.
This wall is now almost completely filled with soil eroded from the bluff. I don't know what will happen after a few more big storms, but whatever it is it is going to require me to rethink some things. In the meantime the wall looks kind of cool filled up like a terraced field.
I have started the new foundation, but since this photo was taken I reset it to be more smoothly curved. It is upward from here.
Step number one, remove the east tower and re-stack the stone someplace out of the way. My solution was to make little stacks on the retaining wall, but also to put some on top of the center tower, just to see how high I could go.
Then, remove the west tower and put that stone someplace. So I put some more on the middle tower and made more little stacks on the retaining wall, but after having learned a lesson from previous re-stackings, I stacked them based on size, so I could use the bigger stones as foundation stones. Good thinking, me. Thank you , me.
I would guess that the central tower was close to 14 feet high, before I stopped adding to it, as it was too hard for me to get the stone up there and I have no great love for precarious perches.
Second tower down to the ground and now I am forced to think ahead to new forms. I must admit that the stones have not been very clear in their expectations for this year so I am hemming and hawing a bit to see if I can pick up any clues as to what happens next.
In the mean time, I was also stacking some stone on the serpentine wall that connects to the big basin. And during this two week time we had three magnificent storms that contributed to this Maya being the wettest May on record in Erie. They also contributed about three feet of eroded soil behind the retaining wall.
This wall is now almost completely filled with soil eroded from the bluff. I don't know what will happen after a few more big storms, but whatever it is it is going to require me to rethink some things. In the meantime the wall looks kind of cool filled up like a terraced field.
I have started the new foundation, but since this photo was taken I reset it to be more smoothly curved. It is upward from here.
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