Have a scotch and a cigar and all will be hunky dory!;)

Rent a saw or buy the appropriate blade for yours if you have one. :thumbsup:

Chiseling is OK, but takes a lot of practice to make the edges square and fall where you intended them to.;)

Have fun at the game!

I fully intend to come out there every chance I get. Thanks.

Do they make masonry blades for a standard circular saw? If so I could just buy a blade. The pavers are just the cast cement cobble stone-esque ones with 4 "stones"/16"x16" paver, they are definitely softer than brick or real stone.

I've seen the blades at the Home Depot. Pick the right spot to do the cutting since it will be messy and wear a mask and goggles. A wet saw would be much cleaner, but the blades for your saw are cheaper than renting one.

If they are the concrete pavers, it's even harder to get a straight line with a hammer and chisel. It's really easy to end up with a handful of chunks instead of the shape you wanted even when being extremely careful.

I'll check that out. Thanks! I've got to get it finished because when they repave the driveway (the clock is at 3.5 weeks and ticking for the base settling) a section of the asphalt will come right up to the patio. The finished patio will be 14'x26' with arc transition from the far corner of the foundation to the turnaround. Might just need to fill some of that place with a new grille and fire pit! :D

The trick has been to maintain the visual gap between the slab and the foundation, which are about 3* off from being perpendicular, while keeping the X and Y axis lines fairly straight. Give a little here, take a little there. :)

It's been bugging me so much trying to get them close. The funny thing is it's replacing a haphazardly constructed 12'x16' patio with no base and 24"x24" hideous 1970's diamond-pattern pool surround pavers that we lived with for 10 years. I don't know why I'm fretting it so much.

I'm posting a day late but not a dollar short....If the rain continues I'm going to start collecting two of everything...hope you guys/gals have a good week.

Don't let it happen again! ;)

I won't, I'm afraid I'll be whipped...

In Chicago on business until Friday. The sun is trying to poke out. Nice view of Soldier field and the Lake if it wasn't so foggy. Headed down to Rush St. for dinner and some drinks with some friends.

It's really kind of tough being here, very bittersweet. I love visiting here but I just can't help but think of my sister's late fiancé and his accident, which will be a year ago on July 4th. The woulda, coulda, shoulda keeps going through my head. I'll have a PBR or two in his memory tonight. Being away from the kids doesn't help, either.

just got home from my photography class final.. I wing'd it and scored an A on the written and did great on the retouch/adjust/resize thing we had to do to some pics.. I can actually watch mythbusters tonight

Haus.
 

Hauled a truckload of paper (income tax returns) to the local bank this afternoon to prove to them that we can afford the little hut we're buying over in Cameron.

MIL is getting relocated from rust belt to sunbelt and we're buying her a place to live. Better than paying rent or driving 1300 miles on a moment's notice when her health eventually hits the ditch.

Pretty neat little 'craftsman-style' cottage...built in '35. Check it out:

This year's three-day vacation
 

Just got back to Mich today after three days driving to NJ and back.

Went to pick up an MB engine that had been disassembled, rebuilt and reassembled as part of a govt subsidized training program. When I got there and they loaded it into my big van, the chain slipped and it bingled up the valve cover!! :mad:

The guys closing the program are unsympathetic, and won't bargain on the damages, because they say the oil spilled as a result constitutes a toxic clean up site. I am calling it even.

BTW anybody got a spare valve cover off an OM 636 car, marine, generator or a reefer engine? I can bump out the other one but would prefer not having to.

On the way out of NJ, my water pump died after 190,000 miles. Can't blame it. Found a guy who was willing to R&R my pump, flush the system and put in new stuff for a reasonable price.

Then me and my engine set out for Michigan, stopping at a truck stop in Youngstow OH for a rest. Sleeping there in a sleeping bag with the windows open was so refreshing that I still feel invigorated at the end of the day!

Probably the second best night's sleep I've gotten in my life. The best was in the pine forests in central Idaho, on the eway to Tacoma.

In the meantime, the good news is that the final terms for my new job were established, and they offered me slightly more than I had originally expected. That was a surprise, but they said they did it because I won't need as much training as some people on the PC with some of their programs.

So next week Monday, it's off to my new job. Have been looking forward to something with more security. Part of it will involve crash, er, impact testing, the other part involves comparing tests from foreign vehicles. Some travel, possibly to Germany for one month every two years.

So I will be taking orders for Ritter Sport chocolate, since I'll be 18 miles from the Steinhagen chocolate factory, and four miles from the Moeringen HQ of Mercedes.

If I go this year, I want to go back to the Museum in Unterturkheim. This time, I'll have a digital camera and will take 11,000 photos.

Thursday and Friday are set aside for house cleaning and moving the engine+stand out of the van and into the garage.

Got a temp job for the weekend, a previous commitment.

So no rest for the wicked, but hey! the wi-fi's free....:D

I know I'm a day late and a dollar short. Running around in hip waders up here it's been raining so much....I'm starting to collect two of everything. Hope everyone has a great rest of the week.

Isn't today Hump Day?