I've been keeping busy working on Kent's cistern. There was a leak in the small cistern, about 5k gallons. I drained the water into the main cistern, pressure washed it and vacuumed it dry. Kent's son Tom is coming in a few days so we can work on the repair and reseal the cistern.
We have also been working at neighbors house demolishing their kitchen. We pulled out everything including a dividing wall and island. It's been fun work to keep us busy. I've also continued to work on sanding and repainting their sea-side aluminum windows.
The rotten rock on the island can be sharp so we need to check the road and driveway after each days excavation if we drive down to our property. We were reminded of this the hard way when we got a flat tire in the jeep. We made it down to a flat spot where our driveway starts so I could change the tire. Bad news is the hole was too big to fix so we had to buy a new one.
With the road to our property cleared we were able to have our three 40' containers with our dome panels delivered. That was an adventure, and a bit expensive because they needed two vehicles to get them up the hill, one to pull and another to push. The containers have been on the island for around five months in a secured area with the original seal. It was great to open them and see the size of the panels up close. You can go to aidomes.com to get an idea of their size.
I haven't been updating the blog because we've had long days and I'm too tired to work on it. I believe I've mentioned before that our internet is slow here so it can take awhile to upload pictures. I find that my writing gets worse as the night goes on, sorry in advance for any run on or confusing sentences. Below is the draft post I had from last week before the dozer broke.
Rock, Rock, Rock!!!!
Did I mention our island is hard granite rock? The other VI's are volcanic, ours was formed by plate movement. The rotten rock on top was easy pushing, but the granite under has been tough. I've talked to three neighbors who have modified their house designs due to the amount of rock, and the cost of chipping it. We have plan B in place if we need to raise the house on columns to the terrace level if the rock chipping becomes too expensive.
All has been going great for the last few days. I haven't posted updates because it's hard to see the elevation changes and progress as they chip down and remove the rock. The camera makes it look like very little has been done each afternoon.
We wanted to save the turpentine tree on the west side of our house. It would have made a great tree outside of our bedroom. It's the largest tree in front of the dozer in the picture below, from when the track was off, but the elevation change over the last two days would have put it too high, and the roots would be compromised. It would eventually die so it will come out in a day or two.
Our neighbors on the other side of the hill have had Chico work on their property as Smith hammers ours. Smith breaks the rock as far as he can reach with the back hoe, then Chico comes back and moves the debris. It's worked out well for both of us since they're paying half the cost to bring the equipment out here.
Our neighbor have a drone and took some pictures as they were working today. You can see me to the right of the jeep picking up flat rocks out of the quarry to be used as stairs and a patio. I'd load up the jeep, drive up to the terrace area and haul them to the camping area to the west (right). Denise is walking down the hill with Bella. The terraced area is the upper part and may be fully cleared tomorrow. It will follow the curve of our ridge and lead down to the septic tank on the right of the picture. The elevation of the picture doesn't give you proper perspective. I'll see if he can come back and get a good picture at house elevation. The picture shows about 1/3rd of our property so I'll also see if he can get a higher elevation shot.
Kevin & Denise
It's nice to see the changes as they happen. It is great that something is really happen.
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