Digging post holes today provided Craig with ample opportunity to reflect back on the many post holes he dug with Grandpa Clarence on his grandpa’s cattle ranch in western Kansas. Craig never really understood what “hubs of Hell meant” and Grandpa Clarence wasn’t inclined to explain. There were plenty of roots and rock to deal with today so the dirt was definitely HARD in places. The other favorite quote was – “what’s YOUR dirt doing in MY hole?”
We got up at 530 AM and were out working around 7 AM. It was already plenty warm and more humid than yesterday. The second layer of logs was moved into place before deciding on location of the post holes. I spent the day filling in gravel around the first layer of logs and tamping it down. For reasons that are not clear, expect perhaps that it sounds more masculine, Grandpa Clarence pronounced tamping as “tomping” I had a bit of tamping experience before today, but now I AM AN EXPERIENCED TAMPER. We have two sizes of tamping sticks. It is truly amazing how many pieces of equipment/tools we have used in this process thus far.
I was finished getting the gravel tamped down around the lower logs by 3 PM. Craig worked another 15 minutes getting one the 4th of 9 post holes to 2 feet depth – aided by a fan if you look closely.
I thought I was keeping up with fluids and electrolytes today but my body did not think so. Tomorrow I will wear my hydration pack. Hopefully we can get the posts in tomorrow – with more tamping of the gravel around the posts.
By the end of the day, Craig was feeling more positive that this plan is going to work. We have watched a lot of YouTube videos about building terraces but could not find any exactly like what we are doing. Fingers crossed.
Tamara Unleashed 