October 26 - Finishing the Stonework on the Cast Iron Fireplace - Game Room

We have been without electricity at home for about 3 days until today so this post is a bit delayed. Last week Jim worked on the supports for the stairs that are coming off the sun deck and the firewood holders (we are getting fancy this year - no more junk wood and pallet wood, we are building 2/4 4/4 holders with slanted metal roofs and metal backs).  I finished (until we install the mantle pieces) the stonework for the cast iron stove in the game room.

Excluding the pool table slate (for an even flat surface) that the fireplace is sitting on, most of the stone was collected locally from outcroppings of gray and California orange slate/sandstone.  As usual - the job got pretty messy with scratch coat and mason's mortar and Mapi to hold the stone (strong stuff).  Mapi is a great product but when wet it is super sticky.  And then the sanded grout/mortar for between the stones was quite fun (stuffing it all into the cracks by hand).  I tried to use a refillable mortar tube that goes into a hand gun - but the mortar mixture was too heavy to feed through the tube.  So all hand work again. At least I was smart enough just to buy plastic tubes instead of a stainless steel gun/tube that was quite pricey.  And mortar (pastry) bags are just a joke to work with.

So 15 pairs of latex gloves later, the job is just about done (when Jim installs the side and top mantle, I will need to do some mortar/grout patchwork). The mantle will be made from some old Railroad Tunnel wood we found in the basement.   Here is a photo of my newest stone work.

And a few tidbits:

Drove back to the road split for Big Valley Bluff last week (since we have no snow back there yet).  The dogwoods have turned a lovely color of pinkish red and since the road is not often taken, it is coated with colorful fallen leaves.  The oaks and maples are a dark rich yellow. Fall is definitely here.

Tunnel Mills and Onion Valley campgrounds have closed (gate locked) but North Fork is still open.

Not much water coming down the Yuba right now.  Hampshire Rocks (the falls area) currently dry.

We found the bottom of a broken vintage bottle on our property (we have lots of broken glass and pay the kids 10 cents per piece to pick it up).  The bottle was labeled the Fitch.  It turns out Fitch was a  would be doctor in Iowa would changed professions and created a hair tonic that was sold between the late 1800s  and the early 1950s.  Since we know there was a barber at the old Emigrant Gap Hotel, this makes a lot of sense.