Watered Up
Here today, gone tomorrow. Truer words have not been spoken about Texas weather. Two weeks ago it it was 33℉ and snowing. Two days later it was sunny and upper 60’s. Crazy.
The last couple of weeks of November and the first week of December have been busy, busy. According to the schedule, the next coming weeks are going busy, too. Not busy, busy. Just busy with some hiccups along with way. With the ground prep work done on the Work Box, now the real work begins. Footing holes. Maybe. Here it is almost 2pm on the second Monday of December, the sun will set by 4pm, all will be dark by 530ish, and the Planner is just now hand digging out hole #1 corners. Hole. Number. One. Not the fourth or fifth as he had scheduled for the day.
Finding the hole to desired depth, rocks were placed in the bottom for easy bedding of the concrete cages and the next hole was outlined. Outlined, not dug as the Planner called it day after hole #1. Somedays it is just not worth even the effort to start.
Tuesday morning again started off with a bang. Overnight water had seeped into hole #1 filling it by more than halfway. Yes, there was water in the holes during the digging of the Shop Box footings but NOT this much. Water came up over a foot into the hole. A foot, as in twelve inches. Don’t have any drinking water but dig a hole and bam, brackish water. As we stood there water could visibly been seen trickling into the hole.
By Wednesday afternoon all ten holes were dug and filled with various stages of water levels. Ten holes in two and half days. Not bad time for removing over 400 cubic foot of material. Each hole was supposed to be 36″x36″x44″, however, some were more than 36″ in width and 44″ in depth.
Thursday morning there was even more water in all the holes. With water filling up the holes and rain in the forecast, it was decided a new plan for water removal will be need to developed before footings can be poured. A simple home shop vac is not gonna cut it this time. Until that plan can be implemented, a much needed break from footing work was taken and odd ends and tidbits were completed.
With water on the brain, the Planner checked the water in the collection tanks to ensure we were staying on task to the daily allotment. Not having access to RO waste water anymore, thank you stupid hurricane Harvey, being diligent in water conservation is uber importante. Now more than ever. Once these two tanks runs out, Boxes in Fields will have to resort back to Friends in Fresh Water Places.
Having decided to build a grass cage for the chickens weeks ago, I finally got around to implementing the idea and planting the grains over the weekend. Scrounged from a Hurricane Harvey debris pile, a four by four square tubing frame with 1/’8″ wire panels welded across were covered with chicken wire. Chicken wire was not needed to keep the chickens from scratching the seeds away, it was to keep them from getting their feet stuck in between the squares. The ground in their run directly in front of the water system was turned over and the seeds were scattered on top. It drove the chickens absolutely crazy that they could not reach the tasty grains.
Patience is not a word in their vocabulary. Once a light layer of dirt was spread across the grains, the grass box was placed above it to protect the grain vultures. Amazingly in five short days the peppers had fresh green winter rye. Since the storm, they have had very little roughage in their diet. Guess there was not enough time for the grass to reestablish itself before fall. What grows over night thru the mesh netting is mowed down by day break in the morning. We conclude they sit on their roosting bars impatiently waiting for dawn to rise and then it is a fight down the ramp. First come, first serve. Or in this case, she who rules the roost wins. These two (the black Sussex and the barred rock) are the two queen bees.
To add to the water frustration was the Kid’s leaky rain collection pipes and unsealed door frame. Pipes were installed but never not sealed with bonding glue and the inner door was installed but not sealed. Both for no other reason than time was ticking and the Kid needed a place to sleep. It was a short cut that came back to bite us in the butt, as always since it yet again rained and rained. And it rained and rained inside the Kid’s box.
We are swamp city around here as it rained several times over the weekend and into the first part of this week. With wet grounds, this week was a great time to build Lego, to redesign the Work Boxes frame work as they will hold more weight than the Shop boxes, and to establish an itinerary for business related needs over the next coming week.
Tomorrow is Santa’s Eve and we are back off to Big City #2 to conclude business paperwork before the end of the year. Then it is a couple back and forth trips to bring partial business doings here to Boxes in Fields. Until the Work Box is complete, the business will be managed from one half of the storage box. Holy moly, talk about cramped quarters. Luckily we don’t have to bring the entire business contents on this first trip. Storage in Big City #2 was part of the negotiations. Buying a ready made business is hard work.
As soon as the holiday season is over, we plan to pour footings. It is amazing how much work was done in just under a month. Can’t believe the end of the year is already gonna be here.