May 11. I know it is May 11th because my Glock calendar hanging on the wall in the bunkhouse says so. (Just a refresher – the bunkhouse was a 16×20′ building with a metal roof, nice windows, a french door and nothing much else.)

Glock is a manufacturer of guns and an American success story. Their logo is a big “G” with “lock” in smaller letters. When my wife gave me the calendar, I thanked her and wondered what “G” “Lock” meant. Finally I figured out it was “Glock”. Another learning curve mastered.

It is raining. The field used to have a swampy (I mean wetlands) spot in the “driveway” but that has been fixed by my gravel/excavating/general heavy equipment man (Dave) last week. Oh, and I have his bill right here, $3,567.50.

Of course, he did much more than just lay some gravel down in a wet spot. He also widened a trail and laid gravel on it to make our circular driveway. Now as you approach the cabin, you veer to the right, drive up through some woods, curve left and approach the cabin from the west. Your first view of the cabin will now reveal the front door, the gable end of the cabin, and the lake in the background. Very cool. Maybe even Magnificent.

He and his crew finished my trench for my water supply through the woods. (See “Water for Cabin” blog entry.)

Dave also dug a hole for our new, refurbished propane tank. What makes it refurbished? A new coat of paint and new valves I suppose. It was about half the cost of a new one. Some suppliers put an “anode” bag in the hole with the tank to slow down the electrolysis but this company said it was unnecessary in Georgia. Next the propane supply truck filled it with 250 gallons. That should last a while.

Note to my progeny – check the tank for leaks in twenty-five years if I have gone to the great log cabin in the sky. PS – try not to generate any sparks.

Finally, busy Dave helped me solve a problem that I have been facing from day one. Over in the small field was a large, 8′ x 20′ piece of concrete that apparently was a “decorative” piece taken from the front of a local building. It was flat on the top with a couple of ribs running lengthwise on the underside. It was sitting on the ribs and essentially was a raised platform about 18” off the ground.

I wanted to move it to the cabin so we could use it as the floor of the structure where the batteries and propane generator will reside. So with Dave’s help, a hammer drill, a concrete saw, a sledge-hammer, some muscle, some patience, we cut it into two 10′ lengths. They were both still very, very heavy.

We rigged one section with half-inch steel wire rope so it could be lifted off the ground by Dave’s very large track-hoe. He had to carry it through the large field while suspended from the claw of his track-hoe (I would call it a steamshovel but it doesn’t run on steam).

Midway through the field, the concrete snapped the cable and came crashing down on top of Dave!

Not really, I was just kidding. 🙂

Wow, snapped that cable like it was thread. I think the only casualty may have been an armadillo (see blog, “Ever Shot an Armadillo?) (Side note: always be ready for heavy things to fall as they often do.) We rigged it up again and the track-hoe continued its trek through the field and then slowly, very slowly, up the hill with its ungainly load.

Finally, Dave filled in my 1,000 foot supply line trench with the dirt. So all that work with three different pieces of equipment, multiple man days and bunches of gravel, for $3,567.50 was not such a bad deal.

Working hard,

Frank