It’s been awhile since the last post and in that time, Katie and I took a long deserved break to attend a tailgater in Fresno. Of course, this was no regular tailgater with hamburgers, tater salad and lots of beer bottles. The tailgater was for insulator collectors and for those of you too young to know what insulators are, they are those things found on telephone and power poles of years gone by.
Gosh, aren’t they pretty? Of course, now that we’ve sated our glass hunting urges, it’s back to work on paving the Pony Express yard.
The first thing was to finish the metal siding on the old post office wall.
It was pretty easy to apply the metal but the window proved to be beyond repair. So, with a little plywood, I stopped up the opening and gave it a promise of better things to come. Since Katie and I both work with stained glass, it seems like a perfect opportunity to create something just for the space.
The next thing on the to do list was repairing the Pony Express wall. The black locust trees, that were in the Pony Express yard when we bought the place, had done a very good job of eroding the stones at the footing of the wall. This left a big scary hole that I had to fill somehow. As it turned out, I learned a lot watching the mason repair the window and it was pretty easy to duplicate his method.
Granted, my work is not as pretty as his but it will be hidden behind a raised planter bed so it won’t be a big deal.
While working on this, the supplies arrived and we, yet again, have a backyard that is packed with stuff.
The color of the pavers is called “Comstock” which we thought was an appropriate name considering that Dayton is in the Comstock historic district. The color itself is reminiscent of the colors in the tailing piles that scatter the hills from Dayton to Virginia City.
They’re a little bold in how they look but I think it will look great once they are laid down.
Now, the most important bit, at least according to the cats, is the magic flower pot from the old house.
It contains the kitty’s personal supply of high grade catnip which is destined to become a centerpiece in the Pony Express yard, as soon as the dust settles.
