Hope you’re all fine,
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We had laid two layers of hardcore and murram down in the main excavated section of the future kitchen, and needed to get better compaction than our water-filled drum was giving us, so I rented a compacting machine thinking we would compact this half of the work, and then finish the backfill and rent the machine again. Anyway, here’s basically how it went along.
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Ben putting on the belt that made the machine vibrate. He just did it while the wheels were running.
So we\'d compact a layer in one section, move the machine to another section, and begin stacking the hardcore for the next layer. In each of the sections, we made four layers of hardcore and murram to bring it up to the slab level.
We had eighteen guys working pretty feverishly.
The main section began to come up, layer by layer.
Gilbert and Isaiah trying to talk over the deafening noise of the compactor. It was so loud you couldn\'t hear yourself losing your mind.
Stacking in the hardcore for a new layer.
And filling in the gaps with small stones.
And then letting \'em have it.
Until what looked like this...
looked like this.
While Ben was busy compacting another section.
And the truck was bring murram from near the dam.
And guys were spreading it on the pulverized hardcore.
At the end of the very long day, we had this. All the sections brought up to the level of the slab we will pour on Tuesday. And Murafu trying his had with the muscle machine.
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About half way through the day, we saw that it just might be possible to get it all filled and compacted today if we worked like crazy. So I promised the guys more money and they went hard at it. It was the best day of work we have had. We worked ’til just before dark, finished and were finished.
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We’ll talk again soon,
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David
Comments(3)-
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martin says
October 4, 2008 at 3:19 pmto look at that nicely leveled space, you’d hardly know it contains the secrets of the black cotton catacombs.
i hope there was a tusker baridi waiting for you at the end of that arduous day. if not, there will be one here.
martin
david says
October 5, 2008 at 8:43 amDear Martin,
The secrets are now entombed in the hundreds of tons of hardcore it took to seal the deal.
I’ll be in SD and take you up on that Tusker baridi.
David
John and Gayle DeGregori says
October 5, 2008 at 12:08 pmWe are amazed at all the hard work!! Blessings to all. Gayle & John