>>Later in the project a plumber had to do an excavation and we found all of the wonderful perfectly matching dark sand under our feet.<< Back in the 1990s we were recreating the clay-soil plaster at the Parson Fisher House in Westbrook, Maine, built in 1751. Parson Fisher's journal came to light, sending us to the west bank of the nearby brook for exactly matching clay-soil, and a later entry that the upper front chamber was plastered in late December, the plaster froze, and was falling off the next spring, when, he lamented, it had to be replastered at no small expense. The good Parson's moral drawn from the sobering experience: "not to get plastered on Christmas, for fear of retribution by Easter." John www.HistoricHomeWorks.com -- To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to: <http://listserv.icors.org/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>