16 June 2018

All I had to do this morning was dig the final footer trench.  Took me three tries before I got it in the right place and the right depth!  Ace backhoe operator!  Then I rough graded the “driveway” that will connect our paved driveway to the barn door.  That was done by mid-afternoon, so transitioned to working on the wood walkway.  Had to take up the 2x6 planks I installed the other day in order to pound sand… literally.  Each plank has to sit firmly on firm ground if they hope to survive being driven over by Delores (she tips the scales at somewhat over 15,000 pounds).  After just a few minutes the handle on my hand tamp broke clean off.  (Obviously all that time in the gym is starting to pay off.)  Took awhile to figure out how to get the stub out of the base and then reverse-engineer how the handle was being kept in the base.  All the cool weather this past week has dropped the lake temperature back to 70°... which still felt pretty wonderful after playing in the dirt all day.