28.03.2024 The big, green dome has finally gone!

 ~o~

  Thursday 28th 40F/4C. A smudgy sky but brightening. Rain is forecast. With windy conditions at times. As weather fronts pass over. Up at 6am. The parking space suddenly looks twice the size! 😐

 Day 1 of being free of the big, green dome project. After three years of carrying the burden. In one way or another. It blocked proper access to the parking space for far too long. Even when I wanted to be rid of it. Even free of charge, there was very little interest. Facebook claimed over 3,500 clicks on my advert but I had only three responses. Including one complete time waster. 

 The sheer scale and weight of the components must have put many people off. The eventual buyer, for mere pocket change, brought a large, flat bed trailer. Typically used for transporting mini excavators. The stacked segments almost dwarfed it! Fortunately the three of us were able to load the trailer. Mostly due to the low bed height and drop down sides. I hadn't intended to help. Though it would not have happened so easily with only two people lifting. 

 The huge, gravel heap is still looming as my next, self-imposed burden. Thankfully things went far better yesterday than I would have dared to hope. I became breathless a few times but no other symptoms. 

 My new neighbour has been demolishing floors. So he has a lot of clean, concrete hardcore lying outside. Some of which I could use to lift the ground level beside the observatory. Where there is a drop of at least 60cm. Over 2' or probably more. Depending how far out I want to enlarge the new platform. With a generous, double carport in mind. For which will use the observatory construction timber once I have demolished it.

 A few wheelbarrows of hardcore. Even if it involved a 150 meter journey each way. Would make lighter work. Than moving at least a cubic yard of heavy gravel 4-5 meters into the void. The gravel is self compacting and flatly refuses to flow. Even heeling a shovel into it is very hard work! 

 Raking is the only way I can manage the work. At the required scale in a reasonable time. Getting another lorry load delivered, just to raise the level, is doable. Though far harder work than maximizing the gravel I have left. The lorry can't reach where it needs to be tipped. Because the ground is too soft.

 7.30. Time for a walk.    

 8.00 It was cool but not cold. Thanks to a lack of wind. The local turbine group was at a standstill. Light bank holiday traffic. The ground was still dry. So I circumnavigated the same field, again. Maintaining a brisk pace on the tractor tire ridges. 

 I was entertained by a large bird of prey. Which was flying slowly and parallel to me. A chevron of geese went over. Noisily complaining at the lead bird's awful sense of direction. Umpteen small birds sang or moved about. A neighbour is erecting some sort of structure up on the hill. Something to do with horses? A large JCB is occasionally active on the new drive.

 8.30 I had another look at the gravel heap and the space to be filled. There is still probably 2/3rds of the original heap left. Lots! So wasting my time. By tootling back and forth with a wheelbarrow full of rubble. Is not really very sensible. Rain is forecast from lunch time onwards. So I ought to shop this morning. If I am going on the bike. Or I'll wait and go in the car later. So I should stop waffling and get on with something more useful! 

 But not yet: I am still waiting for somebody to suggest. That every humanoid robot. Should have a man with a red flag walking [very slowly] in front of them. Now back to work! 

 9.30. 45F/7C. Overcast. Another hour of hard labour. Getting a bit hot and breathless. Time for another rest. I have filled the lowest corner beside the observatory base. The space I have been leveling is much closer to that required. Where is the humanoid robot I was promised? Is it afraid of hard work? 

 If I am to build a double carport I may need to go back as far as the observatory platform. Which means a lot of small tree felling and lots more gravel fill. It is difficult to judge the space available. While the observatory and a large pile of gravel are still in the way. The front of the shed might be a useful reference.

 10.00 Going back out.

 10.45 More hard labour. Then had a nice chat with my builder neighbour about his rubble. He will be delighted to deliver it to the spot where I need it. It will save him having to go to the recycling yard. I just need to make room for his tipper trailer. To reach the low area behind where I am working. We both win. 

 I'll have to thin out the spindly trees too but I have a new chain on the DeWalt. I am now trying to save as much gravel as I can. To more thinly cover the enlarged, raised area. No need to waste it in bulk filling any more. 

 I have been digging away one end of the gravel heap. To make room for a trailer to pass. Then filled a low spot with old bricks.  

 11.40 I couldn't stay awake after working so hard.

 12.20 Woke from an early nap to find it is raining. 

 12.30 Lit the stove. The room temperature is 60F/16C. 

 13.00 Lunch over. Dozed while watching YouTube videos.

 15.45 It has stopped raining. I have been widening the gap at the end of the gravel heap. It is even heavier and stickier when wet! Then I cleared the logs and felled the trees in the expanded, sunken area. Some of them were well over 3m or ten feet longer than I expected. When they fell! I have lopped some of the larger trunks into manageable lengths. Breathless, sweating and tired. Again!

Update: I have no idea what happened to the last half of this post. Dinner was fish fingers and chips.

  ~o~