Reached a milestone with the stone grape arbor today

Stan the mason and I put the capstones on my rustic stone walls today. It's (almost) done! Earlier, Russell and I built the wooden framework, and before that, I built the stone walls and, earlier still, the foundations they sit upon. Finally (almost) done. Once the grapes cover it, it will be darling.

Next is to build a one-step stair up into the "room" inside the arbor, and to install flagstones and pea gravel in there, and then have a double-person "loveseat" Adirondack chair to go inside.

I highly recommend Mastercraft Masonry (Stan) and Quickbuild Homes (Russell). As to my own masonry skills, I might just have to drop my earlier plans to build a Scottish keep on our farm--it's not so much the lack of skill--I think I know how to do it, after spending 1.5 years doing the stone walls on this arbor--but it's the lack of time. I'd need an army of 50 masons, and a lot of mortar and scaffolding.These little stone walls used an AMAZING amount of rock.