Change in Tide

Well I did it – I was able to string two productive and positive days together.

Sunday comprised of office work in the morning (organizing web-cam photos) and then a dump run, a drop off to a Craigslist respondent, and then I installed batten boards that the surveyor will use to mark out the footing edges at the front, back and sides.  The evening was spent starting to rebuild my company Quickbooks files that was lost back in March.  Once I got started, I quickly progressed which was a huge relief.  I lost two and a half years and was able to reconcile just over 1 years worth of the visa.

Today started out on the road just after 7 AM so that I could drop the damaged hydraulic cylinder off at British Hydraulics.  They responded on Saturday which impressed me and had a price that was in the ballpark of others.  I was quoted $1100 to rebuild the barrel, clean up the piston and re-ring and paint. $700 if the barrel could be saved by honing.  I got a follow up email this afternoon advising that the barrel was able to be repaired so the decision to repair vs buy new seems to have paid off.  A new one was over $1500 with tax and that was with a very healthy discount built-in.

After dropping the damaged unit off at BH, I then dropped off the new but wrong cylinder at Williams Machinery.  I then traded the resulting credit in on a new pair of rubber tracks for Alfie.  These will cost just over $2000 which I do not have right now, but it has become clear to me how handicapped I am with the worn out metal tracks I am using now.  After doing some errands on the way home, I then set to work with the loaner machine from Williams.

I had a large pile of boulders that needed to be moved.  I then cleaned out an area that had the beginnings of a fish pond and waterfall.  The waterfall was a pile of boulders, dirt, and organic debris I had piled over 10 years ago and was now totally infested with bind weed.  As I disassembled it, I could see the weeds roots down 5+ ft into the pile.  So I cleared away all of the pile and re-scraped the area including the pond back down to hardpan and fresh dirt.  This debris will all get taken away in a load of misc rocks and debris.  This cleaned up area will be were I pile up the excavated dirt I will use for back fill.

I then reinforced and sheathed the back side of the lean-to shed I had peeled off the north side of the house and moved this to the front of the yard where I will set up a cutting table and storage for things like tarps and the like. I ended the day by clearing about around the driveway to make room for a dump truck.

I am waiting to hear back from my excavator after his really bad Friday.  I will give him some space as he grieves.  Tomorrow I will finish off the final two batten boards before the surveyor comes in the afternoon and then start working on stacking the salvaged wood in areas it will not be in the way of the excavation. Hopefully I will also receive and install the repaired cylinder and be able to return the borrowed unit back to Williams.

I want to again say thank you to Chris, Joel, and Allen at Williams.  Without their generosity, I would have been dead in the water on Saturday and today.  You guys stepped up and I am very appreciative!

For those who are not regular visitors to my blog (vs this journal), I posted an article on testing the Durisol ICF block yesterday.

Thanks for visiting.