The Magic "Tuck"

Roland Sardeson, accomplished stone mason, skydiver, and actor (not to mention a heck of a nice guy) came to our aid in July when we were trying to tuckpoint a section of the stone wall in the Pub.  The mortar we were using turned gray after it dried, and so it didn't match the beautiful "gold-yellow" mortar in the other Walker House stone walls.  On my way to do errands after we discovered the unsightly mortar,  I met Roland in front of the Mineral Point Opera House.  When I told him about the problem, he graciously offered to come down to the Walker House that very minute to check things out.  Roland eyed the gray mortar, grimaced, muttered something like "Hideous," and then grimaced again.  Turns out we were using the wrong sand.  "You need local sand," Roland said.  I had no idea what local sand was until I drove to Roland's workshop building and found a large mound of beautiful yellow-gold sand. Roland not only filled two 5-gallon buckets of the sand for me to take back to the Walker House, he also lifted the heavy containers into the trunk of my car and loaned me a special troweling tool.  "How much for the sand?" I asked.  He smiled and said, "If you need more, just let me know."  He then proceeded to give me tips on how to do the troweling, how to  keep the sand moist, and how much patience was needed to do a good job.  I was deeply touched by his generosity and wisdom. 

A month later, Roland stopped by the House and inspected the mortar job that was completed by Todd Tibbits, one of our local high school workers. Roland eyed the newly mortared wall, lifted his right hand to his chin, leaned back a bit, and said, "Fine job.  Fine job." 

Thanks for adding your "magic tuck" to the Walker House, Roland.