Just Plum Tired! Container Update - Buried (Picture Heavy)

It's taken me three days to finally get around to posting.  I have lots of things in my head for posts, but after this extra long weekend, I'm living in a fog of too much sun, and too much physical labor.

Our weekend started out Friday afternoon, anticipating the arrival of a rented bobcat.  I was told by the rental company it's not called a bobcat, it's called a skid steer.  "Bobcat" is a name brand.  Any idea why she chose to correct me?  If she knew what I was talking about, why did it matter?

As we approached the end of the delivery window, I called to find out where it was.  Yep, you guessed it, I was told it wasn't on its way, it has mechanical problems and wouldn't be available.  Now, why did I have to call to find this out?  So I pushed a bit harder to see if there was anything else she could deliver and her first response (and easiest for most people) is "sorry no". 

I proceeded to explain we had a number of people already at The Compound prepared to begin work, and without a piece of equipment all of our time and expense getting there was out the window.  Magically it seems, there was in fact another piece of equipment we could get.  It took some wrangling on their part, but we ended up with a John Deer tractor.  (Sorry Preppy, no cute girls posing in my tractor photo!)

Unfortunately, about 30 minutes before it showed up, it began to rain.  This rain along with the rain from the past week or so made for a real mess!  The delivery driver got stuck and wouldn't let us help him get out, he waited over an hour for someone to drive over with a pick up truck and pull him out.

But the guys were up to the challenge.  That container was going to get buried come hell or high water (literally)!  The thought of not getting it done and having to shovel and move dirt by hand just wasn't an option.  Besides, they could hardly wait to get on that tractor! They worked until 3am Saturday morning.  The first few hours were spent just filling in the low wet spots so we could move the tractor around.

 

Saturday morning the Moose and I were up by 7am and started our normal chores.  The boys followed a couple hours later, and the rest of our group showed up shortly after.  We worked until around 3pm and took a short break for lunch and a quick nap.  Then the guys were back on the tractor, moving dirt again until midnight.  Folks it took a tremendous amount of dirt for this project.  In excess of about 25 loads, from what I can figure.  Yes, some of it was spread out to make it easier to move the eqpt, but in the long run it will also help solve some of our standing water issues.

There's a bit more to do along the front of the container, but until we have the solar panel array set up, that's on hold at this point.  There is already a huge difference in temperature inside the container.  That was our goal, have a place to store reserve inventory in a temperature controlled space.

Again, we were up early Sunday morning and began work on a "house" for the air conditioning units that are inside the container.  (More on those later)  But the units stick out of course, and they can not be covered with dirt, so we built a house over the top of them.  It has also been surrounded by dirt and a thin layer on the shingled roof.  The Moose also installed a vent for the hot air to vacate the space.

They also got back on the tractor finished moving dirt and moved our mulch and wood piles.  Reworked the shooting range and backdrop a bit.  They worked with the tractor until late Sunday afternoon. 

When all was said and done, they put on 25 hours with the tractor as well as a lot of man hours moving and raking dirt by hand.  All of us are plum tired out!  But ever so glad this project, a year in the making is just about done.  Next is shelving inside, and setting up the solar panel array and control box.

So in the end, it was actually a God send that we got a tractor rather than the "skid steer".  Someone was looking out for us! 

Keep Your Fingers Crossed!

We have a big weekend planned at The Compound, but we need dry weather.  Keep your fingers crossed!

We're renting a "bobcat" to help finish burying the container, moving and smoothing out dirt in low lying areas, hauling wood to stack, clearing some old and new property, and filling in large pot holes on the drive in.

When I put it all in writing it doesn't seem like much, but I'm hoping we can get most or all of it done!  We've plans to use the machine as much as possible.  If someone is up or can stay up, it's going to be doing something!  It's our chance to get a bucket full of stuff done as quickly and easily as possible.  The hand digging and moving of dirt in this heat is getting the best of us.

If I get my wish, we'll have a dry weekend with a slight overcast. 

Hog Tilling and Pest Control

Weeds are my enemy at The Compound.  I'm never one step ahead of them, and won't be until we start living there full time.  This is what my garden looks like.  A mess!  We've pulled up the weeds, only to have twice as many appear the next time.  So we're trying a new method;  Hog Tilling and Pest Control.

They do a great job of rooting up plants, eating grubs and fertilizing the area.    This is what they accomplished this weekend.  Fencing around this area is not as secure as their permanent enclosure, so we don't leave them in their except during the days when we're around.

I'm happy, they're happy..