The Sand Has Arrived (mostly)

We had decided that if at all possible we would get our sand dumped directly into the pit.  This would avoid the horrible fate of having enormous sand piles in the front driveway which would require multiple hundreds of wheelbarrow trips to the back yard.  The only problem would be the truck driving over our lawn.  The sand company told us that their full size trucks never deliver to residential back yards.  Upon seeing the size of the trucks, I could see why.  They gave us the name of an independent contractor, Andy, who has a smaller truck that delivers 5 cubic yards at a time compared to 10 with the big trucks.   I called Andy and had him come out to assess whether he was comfortable bringing his truck around through the front yard to the pit.  His main concern was whether the grass was too soft or not.  I had the feeling that he would make the delivery if I gave him the green light regardless.  It hadn't really rained at all since the day I dug the hole with the excavator, so the lawn was pretty firm.  I decided to give it a go and see what happened.

The next day Andy arrived at 8:45 am.  It had rained slightly that night, as fate would have it.  He drove the truck, which was slightly over its rated weight in sand, onto the front lawn, then pulled forward again.  We took a look at the track that were left behind and decided that the displacement was acceptable.  Not ideal, but acceptable.  It was quite obvious that two parallel dump-truck sized ruts were impressed into the lawn.  Luckily they were not too deep.  He jumped back into the truck and backed it up to dump the first load into the pit!  We finally had sand, but there was a lot of work to do yet.  Andy would go back to the quarry and reload to return with two more dumps for the day, as he had a bigger job in Houston (30 minutes up the road).  It was a scramble to move enough sand to clear a spot for a second, and even more difficult to clear for a third dump.  News flash:  wet sand is heavy!!!  The truck had a 30-minute round trip that seemed more like 10.  We had just flattened out the first dump when the second came.  By time the third had arrived, we had barely gotten the top bit of the pile knocked down.  The third dump ended up being a tricky maneuver to fid a corner that was free of sand.  All but 1 and 1/2 sides are unaccessable for the dump.  We fit it in and spent the rest of the day re-distributing sand across the bottom of the pit to affix the landscaping fabric for good.

Three down, six to go.

On the Level

Now that the digging was done (at least in the hole), it was time to make sure all the sides were more or less level.  The sides that I had driven the excavator over had sunk a bit making the 4x6 edges out of level. They would need to be shimmed up to allow the additional layer of 4x4s that I add in the winter for the ice to fit right.  If the sides are out of level there would be gaps between the boards allowing water to escape and making it very difficult to make ice.  Additionally the ice would appear to "slant" as one side of the frame would be lower than the other.  It was off again to Lowes to get some bricks and landscaping fabric.  While shopping for bricks, a lady came up to me and told me that they were cheaper at Home Depot.  I bought the landscaping fabric and went to Home Depot.  Indeed the bricks were cheaper and in addition, their previously-sold out stock of landscaping fabric had been replenished.  I bought landscaping fabric from them too.  I'll have to return the ones I bought from Lowe's later.

Andrew and I got back into the yard and started leveling the pit board by board.  We started at the corner with the entry to the deck and moved around the court board-by-board making sure that all was level.  The far end was out of level by more than two inches!  After checking level, we shimmed the joints of the boards by digging out and placing two cinder blocks and a brick under them for added support.  Hopefully this will prevent settling later on.

All shimmed up, it was time to lay out the fabric.  I wanted to put the fabric up the sides as well as on the bottom since 1) dirt was on the sides and therefore weeds, and 2) I wanted to prevent sand from escaping and/or dirt from getting into the court.  Using staples from my staple gun, I affixed the end of the fabric just above the bottom of the top board.  Then I laid out the fabric across the bottom to the other end.  I used left over deck nails to pin the fabric to the bottom so it would not blow away or otherwise move.  This was one of the easiest and straightforward part of the process so far.  The rink has been transformed from a mud pit to a deep mud pit to something that now resembles a shallow swimming pool.  So as of now, We are ready for the sand to be delivered tomorrow.

Completing the Big Dig

We have finally completed the digging portion of the project.  After the one and only day of rain during the equipment rental, the weather dried out and dried everything nicely to finish the project.  The excavation left us disappointingly far from a perfect hole.  For four solid days, Andrew and I shoveled wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of dirt out of the pit and up the hill onto the Bobsled run.  The digging combined with the uphill pushing of the wheelbarrow was very physical work, and I was glad to have such a great helper in Andrew.

I had started digging to the right of the dirt ramp we were using to cart the material out of the hole.  We continued clockwise all around the perimeter of the 4x6 frame attempting vertical sides and a level bottom. As the digging progressed, the pit began to look more like a swimming pool without water in it.  The project was finally looking like something more than a mud pit.  Neighbors began to get intrigued, and on the last day some of the neighbor kids actually jumped into the pit with shovels in hand.  It was a great blessing again, as it allowed me to save energy from digging to allow me to be able to push more wheelbarrows of dirt up the hill.

On June 8, the last shovel of dirt left the pit, and only the ramp remained to be re-distributed along the bottom.  I got up early in the morning and started the last bit of digging and raking.  When I finally had a flat base and square sides, the next phase began.  I spent about two hours digging out a drainage trench down the middle of the bottom of the hole.  Again, the removed dirt was re-distributed along the bottom.  Sod was then removed from the lawn on the downhill side of the court.  The trench was then extended out 15 feet further downhill.  After a visit to Lowes the next day, drainage tile was laid out into the trench.

We are now in the final stages of the construction.  I will get a bunch of bags of pea gravel to pack in the drainage time and then shim all the sides of the frame to level using bricks and dirt backfill.  After that, the landscaping fabric will be put in place to cover the entire base.  Then the sand will arrive.  The timeframe looks good to finish before Family arrives at the end of the month.

The Genie is Out of the Bottle

Today we finally pulled the trigger and rented equipment to dig out the rink.  The pawnshop around the corner also has a tool rental with a variety of different digging vehicles to choose from.  I had up until yesterday wanted to rent a Bobcat so as to end up with a nice smooth bottom of the court.  When I went in to rent to Bobcat, however, the guys at the shop told me that I would have a very hard time with the Bobcat, as it is not really meant as a digging tool.  It is more of a loader.  My research had told me that a Bobcat was the best way to go, and honestly, I could think of nothing that would work better.  An excavator would be OK, but I would end up with giant piles of dirt with no real way to move them, and the bottom would be unacceptably ragged.  After much discussion and deliberation, I decided to rent a mini skid loader instead of a full size Bobcat because the full size Bobcats were way too big, and I was afraid they would tear up the lawn.  Just as I was about to rent the Mini loader, one of the employees suggested I look at the combination loader/excavator.  It happened to be the same price as the original Bobcat I had intended on renting, and had the added benefit of having both tools in one.  I filled out the paperwork and hopped on my newly-rented tractor.

It had not rained for nearly four weeks, so there was no need to check the weather for the next day.  I got home from the rental shop at about 6:30 pm and got right to work.  I would have about three hours of digging before it would be too late to be making any more noise.  I quickly found out that i needed to watch the back end of the tractor as well as the front.  As I would scrape out a hole and drove down into it to remove more from the other side, the excavator boom settled onto the ground and I was stuck.  Trying to drive out of the situation was useless, as the drive wheels just spun.  I next got out of the driver's seat and attempted to pull the tractor out of the situation with the excavator boom.  No good.  Finally, after analyzing the situation, I realized that I would have to dig the back end by hand.  Kinda defeats the whole purpose of renting a digging machine, right?  By the end of the day, I had gotten stuck at least four more times, but was getting better at extracting myself.

The next day we awoke to the first solidly overcast day for as long as I could remember.  I made some Egg McMuffins and coffee and got ready to go out and dig.  The second I got on the seat, the rain began (this is why I don't go to Vegas to gamble).  I would now be digging in the mud for the rest of the day.  Aside from getting really wet, the job went smoothly for awhile.  I was no longer getting stuck, and was making progress in the hole.  A new problem popped up - where to put all the dirt I was digging out?  I had begun putting it at the bottom of the "bobsled run" on the hill in our back yard, but that pile was getting too big, and I could no longer move it up hill, because it was turning into slippery mud.  I spent a good 2 hours constructing a "road" so I could move the dirt up to the top of the hill.  This decreased the amount of useful time I could use the machine to dig, but it was imperative to move the dirt to somewhere other than a big pile on the side of the court.  

The rental was for 24 hours or 8 meter hours.  I kept an eye on the meter as I knew that would expire first.  With three tenths left into the rental, I exited the pit and drove the tractor out front for a hose-off.  it would take exactly 3/10 on the meter to drive it back to the rental shop.  The beast was covered in mud, and it took a lot of high pressure spraying to clean the bulk of the dirt from it.  I left a nice tractor-shaped dirt pile at the bottom of the driveway.

At the end of the day, I had moved a lot of dirty, but was not overly satisfied with the progress.  The rain had caused me to lose at least two hours of useful work.  There is still a huge job to be done by hand.  Andrew has been talking about how he wants to bulk up his muscles for the next hockey season.  Looks like I got me a partner for the next phase!

Mud pit now dirt pit

It is time for an update on the progress of the Volleyball court.  The update is that there has been no progress.  The only change in the disposition of the volleyball court is that the mud has begun to dry out and is now firm enough to walk on.  The mud pit is now a dirt pit.

In the last post, I had decided to excavate the rink on the following day.  Unfortunately, I got gun-shy, lazy, or just had a better idea do do nothing on my last day in town for a bit over a week.  As it turns out, I got a notification from Crew Control that my departure would be delayed about 14 hours due to maintenance being performed on the plane I would be flying.  My relatively early departure turned into a nasty late night sign-on.  Jennifer had decided that she wanted to drive me down to work since the Bronco is once again acting up, and she is not very excited to have it as her only car while I'm gone.  So to make a long story short, I had much more time than I had thought I would to do the excavation, and I feel that the opportunity was passed up for no reason.  Now I will consider doing it when I get home prior to the time we all leave to come back to Hong Kong for a visit.

I was out here to complete an all-too-frequent simulator check ride.  That is all done, successfully I might add, and now I have tomorrow off since a trip to Shanghai that I was supposed to fly has disappeared from my roster.  The next day I fly an all night trip to Singapore and Penang, Malaysia.  The following day I return home and then have the rest of the month off.

Summer is coming up quickly.  Andrew finishes school on friday (in fact today was his last real day of learning.)  After returning from Hong Kong we will be busily preparing for a big family visit in June.  I expect that things will go quickly once I touch Alaska soil again.

Stay tuned for the next update, which hopefully, will outline the excavation of the volleyball court.

Happy Cinco de Mayo

It's Cinco de Mayo today, and that means Mexican food for dinner tonight.  We will be going into Wasilla to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants - Chepo's.  It's a bit of a drive with a couple of good restaurants closer to home, but this will also give me the opportunity to scout Loaders for the job of excavating the rink/court.  I have done a bit of research, and it looks as if there may be some better priced options out in Wasilla.

I have picked tomorrow to be the day I excavate, since: 1) I go back to Hong Kong for eight days on Friday morning, and 2)  We are going to Hong Kong as a family for a week when I get back.  So if I want to get the job soon, tomorrow it will have to be.  My biggest concern is that it looks as if we might get some rain tomorrow, which is too bad because the weather so far this week has been absolutely perfect.  Therefore, if it is pouring rain tomorrow, the job will have to be postponed until the end of May.  Not ideal.  As it is, the gravel and sand deliveries will occur at that late date, giving my lawn less time to recover this summer.

Today was a lazy day.  I overdid it a little bit yesterday with the raking, and therefore got a bit run down.  After bringing Andrew to school, I came back to bed and slept in until almost 11:00!  I spent the early part of the day studying and preparing for my trip to Hong Kong on friday.  It will be a very busy week when I get there.  After one day off when I get in, I will be doing my annual emergency training, two days of simulator check rides, and two separate "regional" trips out of Hong Kong.  The first will be a middle-of-the-night cargo run to Shanghai and back, and the second will be a daylong excursion from Hong Kong to Singapore and then a short hop the Penang, Malaysia.  After that I will hitch a ride on the same plane back to Hong Kong.  The next day, I return home to Anchorage.  Way busy, but that's all for this month.

Still mulling things

Not much new today on the Volleyball court front.  A few things have had us hesitant to proceed.  The cost of the operation will be high, but manageable, so we are past that.  The first real puzzler is the excavation with the Bobcat.  It will be difficult to dig three feet of soil out throughout the whole rink and then get the bobcat out of the hole.  The only solution that I can come up with so far is dig everything out except for a ramp to drive the Bobcat out on, then remove the rest by hand.  Yay!  More work!  The other option would be to rent an excavator to dig out the ramp, but:  a) it would double the cost of equipment, and b) I'm not that lazy.  So for the time being, that is the way we will do that.  I still need to call around to see if I can get a better rental rate than $300.00.  

The next hang-up is a bit more serious.  The sand and gravel will be arriving 10 cubic yards at a time on dump trucks.  We will be getting 3 loads of gravel, and almost 5 loads of sand.  The problem is with the yard.  You can see on the picture to the right that there is little room for a dump truck to go between our driveway and the electrical utility box.  My concern is that the blacktop driveway and sidewalk will get cracked and broken by the weight of the truck.  The lawn actually narrows even more as it goes beside the house toward the back.  My neighbor has a small retaining wall dividing our lawns, so the truck cannot possibly go further over than that.  I worry that if it gets too close to the house it could potentially disturb the foundation of the house.  The narrowest point as you can see is the corner of the porch and the retaining wall.  Also, I just did a whole bunch of work on the lawn, and don't want it all messed up by a truck.  I suppose that if I am going to have it squashed by trucks, the earlier the better.  Maybe I can get them to put some kind of steamroller wheels on the truck to flatten the lawn out really well so that we can have an excellent Croquet lawn.  Probably not though.

If we cannot get the trucks over the lawn, the only other option would be to have them dump their loads in the driveway, and then we make unending trips back to the rink by wheelbarrow.  This would DEFINITELY NOT be ideal!

The rest of the day was spent raking more deadfall out of the lawn.  I got the whole northern side of the house completed.  It was also time to get rid of the corpse of the Christmas Tree that has been laying out there since the first of the year.  I lopped all the branches off, sawed the trunk into chunks, and burned it. It wade a really nice fire.  It also helped to burn some of the deadfall rather than just dumping it in a pile back in the woods.  Between yesterday with the lights and today with the tree, i can say that the Christmas season is finally over!

My progress with the raking so far...

Ice rink still a mud pit

Today, Jenn started calling around to find prices on sand and gravel - by far the largest investment we will have to make in this endeavor.  I guess I didn't realize how much of an investment it would be.  After calling 3 different places in our area, we were able to arrive at the ultra-low price of $1,200.00 for both sand and gravel delivered.  We are lucky in that we live in an area that is heavily populated with sand and gravel mines thanks to our being in a huge glacial river basin.  This price, although not unexpected, IS - a bit high.  We quickly began to think of alternative things to do with our mud pit.  1) Let it become overrun with weeds.  No.  2) Make a patio using pavers.  Not bad, but pavers will be expensive and take a lot of work as well; besides, what the heck would we do with a 20'x40' patio enclosed by 4x4s?  i don't know either.  Our deck is plenty big enough for a family dining table and for the BBQ grill.  The only advantage to a patio would be later evening sun, but then again we would be eating in full view of the entire neighborhood.  So I'm thinking "no" on that one too.  

Today we went to lunch at the Valley Hotel in Palmer.  About a year ago we had gone there on a Monday, and I had ordered Chicken soup with my meal.  Jenn had remembered that they serve Chicken soup on Mondays all this time, and has been looking forward to the day that she too could have some of that Chicken soup for herself.  Well today was supposed to be the day.  We sat at our booth and when the waitress came, Jenn calmly asked what the soup of the day was.  Cream of Broccoli.  The waitress told us that they switched Chicken soup to Sundays a few months ago, so bummer.  It was a nice day to be there anyways, and Jenn said she liked the Broccoli soup OK.  

After lunch, we stopped by an equipment rental place to check out Bobcat rental prices.  I will need a Bobcat to dig out about 2 1/2 feet of dirt from the rink to get the proper depth of sand and gravel for drainage.  The four-wheeled Bobcat will cost $190 for the day, and the slightly larger tracked Bobcat will cost $225 for the day.  This is just for the machine, not delivered.  Since we don't have a trailer, we would have to rent that, too, for a price of $75 for the day.  I think the best option would be to go with the bigger, tracked Bobcat.  This will help me dig and get done quicker, as well as offer the advantage of saving the lawn by distributing the weight of the tractor more evenly.  So, unless I can find a trailer, or perhaps a competitor has significantly lower prices, we are now in for $1,500.00.

On a side note, it was another big day here at the house.  The Christmas lights finally came down!  No I'm sure that most would scoff at the notion that somebody would be lazy enough to keep their light up all the way into May.  Well scoff not, because it would be dangerous to be walking around on the roof with snow on it, or trying to place the ladder in an icy driveway or lawn.  Besides, these lights were put up TWO Christmases ago!

While I was up there taking down the lights, I noticed that the gutters were nearly completely full of stuff and growing moss.  When I investigated further, I found that they were filled solidly with dirt!  In order to wrap your brain around how a gutter could fill solidly with dirt, one must remember the winter storms that frequent the valley.  After a windstorm, it is not uncommon to see the whole yard turn completely brown with windblown river silt, mountain debris, and volcanic ash.  All you have to do is picture the whole roof covered with this stuff, and then melting eventually into the gutters.  Presto! - solid dirt gutters.  Needless to say the taking down of the Christmas lights turned into a long drawn out gutter-cleaning session.  Good times!  I got all the way around the house and am happy to say that I now have the cleanest gutters in the neighborhood!

Tomorrow, we will mull further the Volleyball court and how much dough we will be willing to put out to make this thing happen.  

Time to transform the Rink

Hockey season is completely behind us. Palmer Ice Arena has turned off their compressors. All the lakes are melting, and our backyard rink is now just a giant mud pit with the vaguest suggestion of the red and blue lines still running across it. Now that the weather has warmed up and all the snow is melted out of the back yard, it is time to transition into summer mode. Raking all the winter deadfall and debris out of the lawn will take me a bit of time to finish. The task at hand right now however, is removing the most prominent reminder of winter - the hockey rink.