Setting things straight...

As the weather turns warmer and drier, we have returned to working full time on the house and shop. Our friend Harvey Church returned with his bulldozer to straighten the sharp turn in our driveway and work on the area around the shop. This will eliminate the problem we've had in the past of trucks getting stuck on that corner.
While Harvey worked on the driveway, I was busy preparing a spot for the upper pump house. Because of the almost 100' rise in elevation between the well and the house, an additional pump will be installed at the top of the hill to give us acceptable water pressure at the house. I have dug a trench to connect with the existing water pipe, and will set one of the surplus communication shelters over it to house the pump and pressure tanks. The electric company has set a temporary meter next to the transformer at the top of the hill, so we now have power at the house site.


All my work on the diesel tank finally paid off. Today I filled up the tractor from the tank for the first time. It sure beats lugging gas cans around. I'll get 15 - 20 fillups from one tankful.



Now that the weather is becoming milder, we are seeing more wildlife. Turkeys are everywhere. This evening we saw a bull elk on the hill behind the shop, and this doe welcomed me yesterday morning as I drove up the driveway. The bird is a Dusky Grouse - a member of the Blue Grouse family.

Along with finishing the bathroom in the shop, our next tasks will be installing a French drain around the house, and installing the below grade plumbing in the daylight basement.

Work on the house resumes...

While waiting for favorable conditions to resume work on the house, I finished painting the diesel fuel tank. I installed a new nozzle, hose and filter, and mounted it on its stand. After doing some more measuring and computing, I have determined that it has a capacity of approximately 137 gallons. B&W Petroleum will deliver the diesel fuel some time this week.


We finally got a couple of consecutive days of good weather, so I applied the waterproofing sealcoat to the foundation and basement walls. It is a concretious product which is applied with a brush in two coats. The trick is getting just the right consistency and just the right amount of mist sprayed on the concrete walls. Each coat had to dry for 24 hours, so we were delayed by the constant waves of showers that roll through this time of year.



The next big step will be pouring the basement floor. This requires a tremendous amount of preparation and planning.
The dirt has to be thoroughly compacted to prevent cracks in the floor caused by settling. My method entails spreading out about 6" of dirt and then running our old compactor over it several times, then repeating the process until the approximate correct level is attained. I then have to lay out the drains for the downstairs, and the main drains from the upstairs, and backfill over them. Then the dirt has to be precisely leveled prior to the next step.
We have decided to install radiant heat in the concrete floor, so that will all have to be laid out on top of the moisture barrier, 2" foamboard insulation and wire mesh.
I will also be installing a French drain around the back and sides of the basement, then backfilling around the basement walls.

Sprucing things up...

Well, they're not exactly spruce. Actually, they're Ponderosa pines. Each spring, the national forest service sells surplus pine seedlings from its nursery at nearby Lucky Peak. We bought 35, and Susan went to work planting them on the hill above the shop. They will eventually provide a welcomed windbreak and shade from the summer sun. We had to devise wire cages for them to protect them from the deer and elk, and later on, the cattle.



A friend of ours gave us an old steel tank and stand for diesel fuel. I think it holds 150 gallons, but I'll have to wait until I fill it to find out. We will be able to buy "off road" diesel for our tractor, which has no road taxes included in the price. The tank was quite rusty, so I have sanded it down to the bare metal and given it a coat of primer. Tomorrow I will paint it with two coats of silver exterior enamel. Once dry, I'll attach the new ball valve, filter, hose and nozzle, and place it on the stand.