2014-05-14 - Wednesday - Deck removal, kiln closing, and new pot

Wednesday the deck was removed and the new materials arrived.  Underneath the deck there was at least 25 years worth of composted leaves topped with newer leaves.  There were also several tennis balls and half of a Nerf football.  (The previous owner had a large dog.)  Broken bricks, pieces of rotten wood, and shoe rounded out the mess.

Underneath all this was a complete concrete patio.

After the work crew left I had to remove the debris so they could continue the next day.  When I tried to remove the leaves I was surprised to find out that the closest maple tree had sent a one-inch diameter root onto the patio which had split into a vast network of hair roots in the compost.  I also discovered that the downspout emptied directly under the deck, so those roots had perfect growing conditions.

When I tried to remove the roots it was like one huge, wet rug made of roots and compost.  I had to use the shovel to chop it into several pieces to remove it.  I also filled four large bags with leaves and dumped four wheelbarrow loads of compost in the yard.

What a mess!

Binkley is inspecting.

Glad that's over with.

There was also a base of a planter and
some seating in one corner of the slab.

Later that evening I went to Clayworks for class and we bricked up the door of the salt kiln.  I thought it was very thoughtful of Will Baker to include beer holders in his design when he built our kiln.  :8^)

After the kiln door was closed I threw a two-piece pot and called it a night.

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