Pulled a chunk of Ohio sandstone out of the back of the shed today. Been sitting there since I hauled it off a job in '04. I figured it was stable, had been through a couple winters. Started roughing it out and hit a vein of mica that must have been holding water in. Flew apart right where I needed the mass. Twenty years of waiting and it decides to die in the first hour.

Should have trusted my own rule. Never cut stone I haven't seen in the rain. I tell students that every year. Then I go and do the opposite in my own yard.

Piece is dead now. Might salvage a small one out of the rubble but nothing like what I planned. I'll go pick up something fresh Monday and start over. That's the job. You spend enough years doing this and you learn the stone is the boss. I keep having to relearn it anyway.