Evolv-ing Thread

[awsum140]

HELLO...HELlo...helllo. ANYBODY...ANYbody...anybody...HERE...HEre...here?

Sure is quiet in here, heck, without the morning coffee there wouldn't be anything. Thanks Tibs and company.

So I finally got the "big dig" completed.

Here's the "head end" in the basement -


This is on the other side of the wall after the quick patch went on -


Here's the view of the main trench looking at the "west" camera location 100 feet away. Note the root I went under. -


This is where the trench branches to get to the "east" camera -


And the view down the branch trench, with the partial fill, to the "east" camera about 80 feet away -


And, finally, a view of the "east" camera as an example of the mounting -


Every day I worked out there I had to use the leaf blower to clear the trenches and work area to be able to work effectively. The trench got filled to about six inches below grade, tamped, then filled to almost full with the proceeds of shredding most of those leaves, then topped with soil and tamped again. I'm glad it's all finally done.

 

[tiburonfirst]

great job, awsum! maybe the fellas need some more coffee?

 

[dwcraig1]

 

[mikepetro]

HELLO...HELlo...helllo. ANYBODY...ANYbody...anybody...HERE...HEre...here?

Sure is quiet in here, heck, without the morning coffee there wouldn't be anything. Thanks Tibs and company.

So I finally got the "big dig" completed.
.........

Every day I worked out there I had to use the leaf blower to clear the trenches and work area to be able to work effectively. The trench got filled to about six inches below grade, tamped, then filled to almost full with the proceeds of shredding most of those leaves, then topped with soil and tamped again. I'm glad it's all finally done.

That resembles WORK way too much for my tastes. About 15 years ago I was running power from my house to my shed, very similar job to what you are doing. I learned real quick that digging ditches was young mans work, and that I wasnt one anymore.

 

[awsum140]

I think I have a few years on your, Mike, but digging ditches is hard work. The odd thing is it took about 1/10th the time to fill in that digging it took. I did get some help from Mrs. Awsum filling it in, which helped a lot. I was able to do the tamping while she did the filling, for about half of it anyway. It is nice to not have a roped off front yard and overhead wires hanging from trees now, so it was worth the effort.

I did a similar project a few years ago running a low pressure water feed from the house to the garden for the drip irrigation system. I was going to add that to the trench in the front, but decided not to. It's only a small flower bed and irises are pretty hardy.

 

[mikepetro]

We got about 3" of snow yesterday, and they are calling for about the same today. I am real glad I got all of my outside projects complete, at least any that I was planning on tackling this year.

 

[awsum140]

It's snowing here, now. I wanted to get that trench filled before the snow and managed to get 'er done. Now may hands are telling me I did.

 

[classwife]

It's ugly, grey, misting and cold/windy here.
I really don't like days like this.

 

[Steamer861]

Digging ditches by hand depends on the soil, looks to me like awsum has some pretty nice sandy soil.
Should have been pretty easy to dig?
So why not just mount the cameras on the house? Maybe high up on each corner? Why go way out into the yard?

 

[mikepetro]

Digging ditches by hand depends on the soil.....

Agreed, mine is rocky clay and red dirt, not very user friendly.

 

[awsum140]

Yes, the soil is sandy here, but full of roots from all the trees. A lot were small but still big enough to tangle the shovel until the got cut by the shovel. A few needed lopping shears and a few were left intact and I went under them.

The cameras are out where they are to watch the lower, front, portion of the front yard. I have cameras on the house but these are to specifically watch an area that has been used as an off-road track by some local "yahoos". I originally considered spike strips but decided I'd either step on them, myself, or run over them with the mower. Cameras seemed a less "painful" way to go. At least the sore muscles will go away in a day or two.

Actually, we've kind of gotten used to those two cameras. They're kind of like a "front window" no matter where we are in the house.

 

[SlickWilly]

Yes, the soil is sandy here, but full of roots from all the trees. A lot were small but still big enough to tangle the shovel until the got cut by the shovel. A few needed lopping shears and a few were left intact and I went under them.

The cameras are out where they are to watch the lower, front, portion of the front yard. I have cameras on the house but these are to specifically watch an area that has been used as an off-road track by some local "yahoos". I originally considered spike strips but decided I'd either step on them, myself, or run over them with the mower. Cameras seemed a less "painful" way to go. At least the sore muscles will go away in a day or two.

Actually, we've kind of gotten used to those two cameras. They're kind of like a "front window" no matter where we are in the house.

Here it's all rocks, just as much rock as soil and some times more rock depending on where your digging. It's a mix of rounded rocks from water and chunks of shale, lots of shale with fossils here, it's all from the glaciers from long long ago. Look at a topo map of upstate NY and you can see where the glaciers formed the valleys and lakes and the raging waters created all the deep gorges around here. That wooded area at the back of my property, it drops off into a deep gorge. Lots of huge deep gorges over around Ithaca, Cornell (at the top of the hill above Ithaca) is surrounded with them. I'm sure you've heard stories of student's committing suicide (or at least ruled that way) by jumping off the bridges into the gorges, now they have huge nets under the bridges.

 

[Icemanxxxv]

Can anyone say Ditch Witch?


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[Steamer861]

When it comes to digging dirt, I'v about seen it all, different types of dirt have different challenges!
The absolute worse is "Hard Pan" I dug a dam in the worse hard pan I'v ever seen, it was a greyish blue crystallized silty soil embedded with small rocks. To dig an 80' deep dam key it took 30 days & 29 sets of teeth!
By the end of the job we had a 45 gallon barrel filled with worn out teeth.
These were no ordinary teeth, they were designed for tough digs

 

[Rossum]

We got about 3" of snow yesterday, and they are calling for about the same today.

I don't feel your pain, but I have a picture of it:

That's yesterday, up in Floyd county. No, I'm not there right now, but one of my guys is.

 

[Rossum]

It's ugly, grey, misting and cold/windy here.
I really don't like days like this.

I know right?

It's starting to brighten up a bit now, but it's still only in the 50s.

So I finally finished off the fireplace we rehabbed earlier in the year with a burner and log set this morning.

 

[mikepetro]

Can anyone say Ditch Witch?


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I wish!

 

[classwife]

I know right?

It's starting to brighten up a bit now, but it's still only in the 50s.

So I finally finished off the fireplace we rehabbed earlier in the year with a burner and log set this morning.

That's lovely !!

 

[Rossum]

That's lovely !!

Thank you.

The old one was, uhm, shot.

Whoever put that in was a complete idiot. If you want a wood-burning (and therefore vented) fireplace within sight of the ocean, you don't use a metal insert, you stick with straight masonry, otherwise the salt just eats it up.

 

[classwife]

Thank you.

The old one was, uhm, shot.

Whoever put that in was a complete idiot. If you want a wood-burning (and therefore vented) fireplace within sight of the ocean, you don't use a metal insert, you stick with straight masonry, otherwise the salt just eats it up.