Stone Eye - Hot Horse Hide

Laboring in stone-craft is sweaty business even when the summer air temperature is moderate. Ramp the heat up to 95° F (35° C), add the radiant heat steaming off the stones, and I find myself working in a veritable, solar bake oven. The perspiration really starts to flow. Dust swirling around the site sticks to damp clothing and exposed skin. I look like a coal miner by the end of the day. I’m not complaining, though. Extreme heat is preferred over cold. My aging muscles and joints definitely perform better in summer weather.

The horse eye project continues to consume wall stone; 70 cubic yards have been set, so far. And that doesn’t include the tons of rip-rap and crushed stone pitched and shoveled into the core of the sculpture. The last of the guide-point sinkers have been attached to the overhead frame. The “cheek” area of stone horseflesh remains to be built.

I had help in the past week and a half from Andrew Pighills and Jamie Masefield who, respectively, finished the curve of the enclosure wall and built the passageway staircase. True outdoors-men, I heard no denigrating words from them about the heat, only appreciative remarks about the breeze.

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