Resistance

The last few days have been about prepping for the big tarp reconfiguration and further storm water management.

Friday was spent cleaning up the pit floor (moving empty pallets, getting rid of debris, etc.) , trenching from low spots collecting water to areas serviced by the pumps, and then finishing the conversion of the south pit pump to use 1″ PVC instead of a garden house for increased capacity.  I also started rigging some of the new ropes that will be used to support the tarp.

Saturday saw more work on the storm water system including digging a pit outside of the footing zone for the south pump and also installing check valves on both pumps to prevent the water flowing back into the pit every time the pump cycled.   I also added a new portable pump Saturday that will be used in the short term to pump water off the tarp surface when it is down.  By the end of the day, I also fully lowered the tarp in preparation for Sunday.

Today, Sean from Burley Boys was back and rigged a new cable on the north tree to be used for tensioning the tarp. He then rigged a 6″ pulley block, I bought from Princess Auto, on the South tree to allow easy raising and lowering of the tarp (this is the side that I raise and lower the cable from – it is fixed at the north tree).  You will remember I was nervous that the existing shackle was being weakened by the cable cutting into it and as you can see by the photo, this was a justifiable fear.

I also had Sean cut off a couple of branches that were clearly responsible for the huge resistance I was getting when I tried to raise the tarp back up.

I decided to also run a new cable from the base of the tree up to where the tarp is attached as the original one was ‘curled’ due to rubbing up against the shackles and was becoming increasingly more difficult to handle and was increasing the risk with raising and lowering the tarp (the curls would get caught and have to be untwisted to lower the tarp).

This now also allows me to run the cable leg out far enough from the base of the tree so that it can reach over the pit to the driveway and make lowering and raising very easy again.  These actions have dealt with the last of the weak spots on the system that I cannot access from the ground and should make future operation and maintenance much easier.

This coming week will be about rigging the new rope spider web that will be the structural support for the tarp, but only after I fill the company income and sales taxes which have become the first priority in life right now.  Hopefully the bookkeeping will be done by noon or mid afternoon on Monday.

Thanks for visiting.