We Built A Wall

Bazinga!

Shout out to the Big Bang Theory fans! :) Love their theme song, so I stole a line.

To be honest, we didn't build the wall ourselves. We hired it out, as we know nothing at all about wall building. In fact, I learned a lot about walls during this process.

When I was in Middle School (back in the dark ages) we had an English teacher that required us to learn poetry. As in memorize it. And it had to be recited out loud in front of the class! I hated the very idea of reciting before the class, so she allowed me to recite privately to her. She was so kindhearted.  I memorized Robert Frost's "Mending Wall." "Something there is that doesn't love a wall..." I suppose walls have lots going against them. Water, gravity, and according to Robert Frost, Elves! But I do love my wall. It is well built and we expect it to last our lifetime. Here's hoping anyway.

When we bought the cabin, we loved it because it's perched on the mountainside overlooking another mountain.

This is a view from the road above the cabin. It appears to be hanging on for dear life to the mountainside!

That poses a problem with erosion, since the driveway and site for the house was carved, quite literally, out of the mountain. It's not attractive, either.

Here is the hillside next to the driveway.

And another view, to show how tall the cliff is. Look how it towers above the car! It was quite the eyesore, to say the least.

Knowing nothing about building walls, we knew we had to hire it out. The builder that we hired to complete the cabin had built the neighbor's retention wall, and so we knew he would do a beautiful job. It was his last job for us, and he did it so fast that we didn't even have time to snap a few "during" photos!

I learned a few things about wall building that was really interesting. In a nerdy sort of way. First, you have to lay out the line for where the wall will go. Then dig out the foundation (at least 1/10th the height of the wall), and line with gravel, then the first row of timbers. Then you have to stake them into the ground with rebar. And as you build up, there has to be some stabilizing timbers that go into the dirt to hold the wall in place. They are called, "dead men." Fascinating! It's also important to have weep holes for the water to come through so that the force of the water does not push out the wall over time. It's actually pretty complicated. So best left to the experts!

Here it is in all it's glory! Our builder said he felt like he had built the Ark. This thing is huge!

You can see the weep holes here, and also the 'dead men.'

So much better, don't you think? We did add some gravel to the driveway and it finished it off nicely. Maybe someday we will have the whole thing paved. But not anytime soon!

Here is the side of the yard, showing how he stair-stepped the wall to match the slope of the land.

Couldn't resist a pic of a lovely sunrise! This is from the deck on the back of the cabin.

Look what's blooming all over North Georgia! Thistles are so pretty, but viciously prickly. But I do love them anyway, being of Scottish heritage! Thistles are the national flower of Scotland after all.

So how do you like our wall? Doesn't it look better than the big, huge, monstrous, clay cliff that we had to look at every. single. day? I have to admit that I love it. :)