This Saturday morning proved to be a brilliant, bright, and warming day. Although windy, the sun radiated heat bringing temperatures to the mid fifties. The bees were eager to find something to sustain them until the pollen and flowers began their spring blooming. I discovered that the bottom of my uncapping tank had some thick, semi-crystallized honey left over from the last honey harvest in the fall (ah....yes, I forgot to finish cleaning up!). Anyway, it was a perfect opportunity for me to place the tank outside and let the hungry bees "clean-up" for me.
Because frankly, we had other important tasks to attend to.
It was time to attach the second half of the 3 foot culvert and hopefully, oh-so-hopefully, move enough fill dirt to get access across.
It all began again with bringing the culvert across the road.
This is where we left off last weekend. Water flowing through the culvert, but edges needing straightening and debris needing removing. Thankfully the ground was dry! No slip-sliding into the brink today.
So after placing the culvert in a clearing, Farmer's Husband Gary set out to lessen the incline at the edge of the creek. Somehow, we would need to get close enough to scoop out the bricks and straighten the stream so the culvert could rest straight and true. It turned out that we needed to approach the creek from both sides in order to get the distance we needed.
But prior to placing the culvert in, the coupler needed to be attached. So Gary gently raised the culvert we placed last weekend with a chain attached to the tractor. While that was elevated a couple of inches, Gary separated the coupler with a bolt and nuts so that it wouldn't spring back after closure. We still needed to have it opened to attach the other culvert. And remember, these things weigh several hundred pounds. It's not like you can just lift it into place and fine tune the line-up by hand.
Here comes the culvert!
We wiggled that big culvert to just the right angle and while Gary held it in place, I got the coupler around it. Then we attached the bolts to tighten it together. Success!
Now to haul load after load of fill so that we can drive over it.
After eight loads or so, there was enough fill for the Gator to make the first pass. The sun still brilliantly bright.
So back to loading and dumping I went...
I would dump the load and then Gary would strategically push it in place. By mid-day the next day, we could drive over it and I no longer had to back the fully loaded truck down the hill. I could drive straight across, dump my load, and then turn around in a clearing (while Gary move the dirt) and drive straight back up. Yeah! Backing down a hill with a curve was really hard for me. Farmer's Husband Gary had to direct me each time.
The next day we assessed our building site and planned our next steps. The top soil was pushed to the side and the corners of our future home were pinned with step-in stakes. Remember hypotenuse triangles? And I thought 9th grade geometry class would never be helpful!
We decided in the afternoon that it was time to dig the edges of the basement so that the borders would be clear and so that we could move only that dirt which needed to be moved. Farmer's Husband Gary and I measured 3 feet from our pins and painted the ground with marker's paint so that Gary would know where the edge of the bucket should rest. I got the laser level out and set, and then created a story-stick (measuring tape basically) out of a young oak sapling we had to remove. The slope of our building site required that Gary slowly bring up the bottom of the trench as he progressed northward. Otherwise we'd have an unlevel house.
As Farmer's Husband dug, I would scoop up the dirt and load the dump truck. By the end of the afternoon Gary had finished the west wall of the basement....but dusk was fast approaching and we had to stop. Perhaps next weekend, weather permitting, we can complete the other two trenches and extend our driveway fill. On the 10th of the month the last of our four culverts is due to arrive - a 24 inch diameter 40 foot double wall HDPE pipe. If we can get that in and covered, we will have access from the Road! Then the fun work really will begin!
Today's Journey Joys: A weekend without getting a truck or tractor stuck, sunny smiling skies, the foundation taking shape, ibuprofen for sore muscles and backs, Mr. Rooster crowing, honeybees preparing for Spring buildup, green grass sprouting, daffodils breaking ground, computer repairing by Ben, and the first day of chess club for Ally.
