Mason Tending

["daedelus lanthanien" <daedeluslanthanien@zzzzzzzzzzz>]

Mason tending is usually the first crucial step to becoming a mason. I say
usually because this is not always the case. Sometimes I run into a person
who has never tended thoroughly but is on the wall. I call these types
"Worms".

I worked for a old mason in Luxembourg when I started in the deep of winter.
He had me mix mortar and carry his hods. I set scaffold, cleared snow, I
tended the sand fires and tent salamanders keeping them topped with fuel. I
was shown techniques for keeping brick, sand, water, and the mixer warm from
one fire. I learned how to be carefull and avoided many deadly accidents.
Bud always stressed "common sense" as a key skill, it has served me well and
continues to do so today. I have very nice fingers and toes, they are quite
handsome I must say. I am very proud to say that I still have 10 of each!
(Insert wood knock here. >!<.)

Mixing mortar may seem like a snap to some, but this is not the case.
Weather conditions are constantly changing requiring the tender to be very
careful. I learned very quickly how a walls mortar can vary immensely in
color and strength when one is not consistant or the heat fails in the
night. I learned alot about colorants and various other add-mixtures for
mortar, concrete, and grout. When Spring came it was almost heavenly.

Carrying hods and mud brings a tender to the required strength to survive in
this trade. Hods and mud also teach the tender how to lift properly without
destroying their backs. The Hods and mud quickly seperate the weak from the
trade. In the space of my first 3 years I watched 70 men wash out tending.

Mason tending is about doing what your told, nothing more. You will do the
bidding of the Master and hold your tongue. It has a way of humbling the
strongest men but at the same time starting a fire that cannot be quenched.
After my fire was lit I never looked at this like some "job" that was given,
I learned how to make work and prosper by my wits.

When I finally made the wall I could tend 6 masons and lay half of the day.
After doing this for 3 years my boss found 2 tenders that could stick it out
and I was freed from this task. It is not a question of "when" you are
efficient and caught up, you simply "are" efficient at all times when you
finally get a chance to lay brick or stone.

I am sorry if I may seem callous. I have paid dearly for my skills in blood,
sweat, and tears. The days are long gone for me being tickled by someone
"allowing" me to touch a stone. I do not talk out of turn or portend to know
what another feels in his heart, or what his experience may be. Please take
this as seasoned advice, it is not intended to belittle or "flame". I am
just mildly irritated.

I may be called daed for short. I am sorry for not providing you all with a
proper common name to call me by. I understand the internet all to well and
I have studied the ways of Hackers. Your privacy may be lanced very easily
on-line producing very painfull results.

Daedelus Lanthanien = Daedelus is a Greek name, Daedelus was King Minos's
Stonemason. He built the labyrinth for Minos.

Lanthanien is a Latin name. It is the name of a naturally radioactive
element, one of the last found. It means "To lay hidden"

In the Old World it was common for a scholar to take one Greek name and one
Latin name for themself when writing. I am simply continueing this
tradition.

Have a wonderful day! Daedeluslanthanien