At the Park – Days 54 – 60

Alrighty then.  Let’s see what I can remember from this past week that would be of interest.

Tuesday evening I finally got to go “work” at the property with the tractor.  I decided I would try to dig out the mesquite roots that were left from the clearing/grading of the cleared area around the shed as a first exercise of learning how to operate the tractor and backhoe.  That went ok.  I dug out over 10 of them.  Figuring out how to fill the holes back in and leave the area relatively level seemed like an exercise in futility.

Wednesday I did cleaned up a bit around the trailer and prepared a shopping list for Thursday.

Thursday was my weekly run to Douglas for groceries and such.  I finally remembered to take the big cooler with me although I forgot to buy ice when I was there.  Oh well.  Baby steps.  Tavern in rodeo is open again so I stopped in to say hi to the new owners and have a margarita on the way home.

Friday was potluck night.  I spent all Friday afternoon preparing food.  Guacamole, corn on the cob, and a potato dish out of one of my instantpot cookbooks.  Potluck as always was enjoyable.  It is the only social time I have all week so I always look forward to it.

I worked Saturday – 6AM – 7PM ET, then another 30 minutes later in the evening.  By the time I was done working, I didn’t feel like doing anything so I vegetated and watched a movie.  That was the first TV/movie I have watched since leaving home two months ago.

Sunday was a slow start.  I did dishes from Friday, paid lot rent for another month (actually, Rusty is comp’ing me lot rent for my work on their network so I only needed to pay electric and buy quarters for laundry).  Had a nice long chat with Rusty regarding a number of topics including medical, dental, optical, info about some of the locals, and finally rainwater runoff management.  I loaned her my two books on the subject.  I had planned on staying at the trailer park all day to do laundry and misc things around the trailer, but something compelled me to head to the property and work on the land.  So I did.  I got a lot done – after a minor mis-step at the start…

After figuring out why the tractor was going slower than expected, I headed to the end of the drive to move the diversion swale from the east side of the drive to the west side, and fill in the low area between my drive and the road that always filled with water when it rained.  I took a bit of video of before and after.  Saw my second rattle snake while I was working on the road.  Maybe it was the same one I saw before.  Who is to say.

After I was done with that, I dug out an area to the east of the drive near the end for water to run off and not go into the road then I made a swale in the drive to get the water running down the drive to go there.  Got a bit of video here showing that as well.

Next up was moving dirt around to try to stop or minimize runoff from the property onto the street that was occurring at the end of the drive way.  Got a bit of video here showing the end result of that.

Final project of the night was to dig out the mesquite then clear the rest of the brush and stuff in what will be the drive up to the carport for the house.  Before and after photos below.

While at the property, I noted that Victor, our septic specialist (along with road grader and a number of other things) had been to the property to collect the necessary soil samples for analysis for the septic system permit.  Previously, he indicated that he usually takes samples during the week, then analyzes them over the weekend.  As such, I expect to have the paperwork for the septic permit this week.  I will complete the paperwork for the building permit tomorrow and plan to run to Bisbee Friday to apply for the permits.

Updates on the Michigan home front:  I expect closing for the house on Augusta Drive to get scheduled for this week.  I got a judgement to evict my tenant from the house on Michigan Ave.  He needs to be out by next weekend.

I’ll be checking out drones.  Maybe I will have some aerial footage to share soon.

Finally, I’m going to leave you with this picture and the closing thoughts below.

Are you wondering why on earth would he share a boring picture of an ant hole?

Here is the thing.  I was taking Sasha to do her business in the dog run and saw this ant hole (and a number of others just like it) in the dog run.  In observing it, I observed the the terrain in the area is dirt but surrounding this ant hole for some distance in all directions are pebbles presumably dug out of the ant hole and carried to the surface by the ants.  A very impressive feat in my mind.  Then I transferred that to myself.  Sometimes people ask (including myself on occasion):  How are you going to do it?  What I have planned seems like a monumental undertaking. Sometimes it is overwhelming to think about.  I am going to do it the same way those ants built their home.  One pebble at a time.  One day at a time.  One shovel of dirt at a time.  One task at a time.  Day after day with persistence, patience, and a view of the goal always in my mind’s vision.  There will be delays.  There will be setbacks.  Things won’t go as planned.  Plans will change.  But I will persist and I will succeed.  Of that I am confident.

That is it for me.

 

Night all