What a difference a week makes!

A week ago we were still digging post-holes and laying in the first layer of telephone poles and we were just entering the extreme heat wave. Tonight we are looking at the completed 2 layers of telephone poles with 11 posts.

While the heat was challenging, the shade and fans and lots of diluted Gatorade made it possible. The fact that it did not rain at all since we started the project on June 5 made it so much easier because we did not have to pick up all of the tools at the end of each day and bring them out again the next morning.

Last night, after the last pole was laid into place and secured, we both had a big sigh of relief. Later I saw Craig sitting outside reflecting on all that had to go “go right” along the way for us to get this terrace completed. While we still have work to do, the hard part is over. We were working with old telephone poles that Craig had acquired several years ago. The poles were different diameters and lengths and of variable quality. Craig had a plan to complete it with the existing poles but decided on Wednesday that a couple of the poles planned for posts were too deteriorated to have total confidence in so we found some better quality telephone poles about 15 miles away.

End to end alignment of the poles was challenging and this would have not been possible without Katie Kiota to do the heavy lifting.

Tomorrow we will finish adding gravel and compacting it layer by layer until it is level with the top of the poles. The posts will be cut down to be just above the top of the poles. The we have to figure out how much if any filling of the pasture on the other side of the terrace and how to handle the area on the yard side of the terrace. It will take a couple of truck loads of soil to replace all that has been lost to erosion since this house was built 20 years ago. Hopefully with this and the other much less complicated terraces to come, the new soil will be protected.

There were a few challenging communications during this project. I did get better at waiting for instruction rather than moving forward with what seemed like the obvious next step to me. Much of Craig’s frustration was concern for my safety. I do not have much of a sense of fear and may take unnecessary risks especially given he can’t always see things from my angle.

Wednesday June 26 will be one year since Craig and I initiated our text conversation. We are taking the day off to reflect on all that we have shared and experienced on this fabulous journey.