3.03.2024 Going, going..?

 

 

 ~o~

 

  Sunday 3rd 44F/7C. Misty and overcast. Up at 6.15. Aching all over as expected. 

 8.15 A walk would be sensible before starting work again. On dismantling the big, green dome.

 9.15 Back from a damp walk to the lanes. A strangely variable wind came and went. Making it slightly unpleasant at times. The traffic was all but non-existent. Birds singing everywhere. Skylarks overhead. Wheezing greenfinches at the tops of roadside trees. Great tits moving about and beeping in the hedgerows. Chaffinches complaining as I plodded past. 

 9.30 Morning coffee over. I had better start work. Before I get bogged down on the computer.

 10.45 I have removed all the bolts and screws. Which were holding the final segment to the centre one. Nothing is moving yet. I shall have to saw up the laminated base ring. Over which I spent many hours fabricating as accurately as possible. The ring is stiff enough to prevent the free movement of the outer segments. It didn't help that I levered the entire dome towards the observatory before giving up. 

 My lifelong obsession with astronomy ended with the death of my wife. I was up in the observatory capturing solar images as usual. As my wife lay alone on the freezing kitchen floor after a fall. Her first and her last. Once discovered, it took two hours to move her onto a comfortable and warmer surface. She had no idea how long she had lain there or if anything was broken. 

 

 The agony on her face with every movement remains as an indelible memory. I wasn't strong enough to lift her bodily. So had to drag her under the arms. To turn her around and then along the narrow, tiled floor of the kitchen. It had two layers of furniture back then.

 

 
  I ended up dragging her on a blanket into the living room. Where I arranged a thin, foam mattress to protect her from the hard floor. Even then I couldn't lift her onto it. So had to literally roll here onto a thinner foam pad. She wanted to be sitting up but was in continuous agony. Her face contorted every time I tried to pull her back up onto a hastily arranged, sloping backrest.  

 I used her unexpected fall as a final lever to agree that the the doctor should call. My wife was livid, but reluctantly went into hospital "for a check-up." Where she suffered for a further few days before discharging herself. After a nightmare weekend, without any nursing support, my wife died not long afterwards.

 Cancer had unknowingly spread to her major organs. The close association between my wife's fall and her death is linked irrevocably to my astronomy. The long decades of building telescopes and observatories were finally at an end. 

 I still follow the astronomy forums. To try and rekindle my interest. Nothing works so far. Which is why my major building projects are being demolished or dismantled. It will be two years next month that I lost my poor, dear wife. Fifty five years of memories still keep me awake at night.

12.00 With the base ring sawn into pieces I managed to pull two segments over onto their backs. Where they can be slid around on the grass with some difficulty. The sheer scale of the segments doesn't really show in my pictures. 

 I managed to stab my thumb with a protruding screw. So had to come in for rinsing and a rest. It looks like a cut and stings but quickly stopped bleeding. After lunch I tipped the last segment with the help of a long strap. 

 They are now all clear of the hideous pigsty of a mess which has accumulated. Three years of damp mud has left its mark on all the timber. Most of it will probably become kindling for the stove. The rest can go to the recycling yard.

 I will try to move the huge segments to the bottom of the garden. Where they can safely be ignored. Or, taken away by a local farmer? That might work and would save me some pointless struggle. I checked the small ads websites but they had nothing remotely similar.

 14.00 I have been on a tour of the local farms. Carrying large coloured pictures of the dome. They were all very helpful but had no use for it. They recommended another farmer up the road. This third young chap seemed interested. Not for animals, but in having a domed playhouse for the children. In the safety of the walled yard. There were lots of toys and a sandbox already. 

 What a brilliant idea! It would be quite magical for a child to have their own green igloo den. The farmer has to clear it with his wife first. Only a short distance away and he has all sorts of heavy equipment to take it away. Getting the segments past the house is the critical part. They will have to go out lengthways. I'll have another rest and then start tidying the debris. What an absolute tip! 

 16.30 I managed to throw all the timber offcuts into a heap. Collected all the fallen screws, nuts and bolts I could find. All of the countless shelf brackets I used to reinforce the base ring attachment. 

 Still a long way to go and the local recycling yard isn't open until Wednesday. I may have to go further afield to clear the unwanted stuff. Now the entire parking space is taken up with the three, giant segments! I backed the Morris Minor up to the heap of timber. If the timber were not there, then there was room for two Morris Minors, nose to tail.

 To add to today's problem the heavy shed door was stuck. I had to lever it off its hinges and trim the bottom. Getting it back onto its hinges took me half an hour of exhausting work with a crowbar and batten.

 Sunday dinner was chicken, mushrooms, peas, chips and gravy. I was a bit mean with the gravy. I usually use a small cup to measure the water. Tonight I just put some water in the pan. Wrong!

  ~o~