How to Build a Cairn

April 25th, 2021

I jack-hammered the pool deck some years back in preparation for a pool remodel and planned on recycling the broken concrete for flower boxes and retaining walls in the backyard. Clearly that project was never completed, so the concrete became a home for lizards, ground squires, gophers and countless species of insects. Ironically, an idea has been “bugging” me the last year or so. I want to build a cairn using this concrete. So, Sunday afternoon April 25th, I drug Jake into the backyard with the intention of doing just that; I believe we accomplished the goal.

The cairn stands around 8 or 9 feet tall, 5 feet in diameter at the base and I’d say without doing any calculations, it’s at least 1,000 lbs. worth of concrete, maybe more. It was fun to build, but several muscle groups in my body over the next few days gave a constant reminder of the time spent having “fun”. I’d do it again though; it was worth all the aches and pains.

The Tibetan Prayer Flags were a last-minute idea that I found on Amazon for a few bucks. I really love how they finish off the structure. When no one is looking, I like to go outside, climb to the top and let the flags dance in the wind around me as I blur my vision and pretend, I’m standing atop Mt. Everest. This makes me smile.

Music featured:
Heroes
Marc Torch
https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/21yEWQBHFN/

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