Phil was up early in preparation for the electrician, trying to get the trench dug. After so much rain in spring and early summer, now that all the outside work is pretty much done, we have had almost no rain for about six weeks, and digging is rough going, even with the backhoe.
It soon became more rough, as a hydraulic line popped. Bummer. Phil came down with a frantic look in his eyes, but I reminded him that I had a midwife appointment, and he was visibly relieved. I could deal with that while I was in town. In a surprising blessing, I have generally scheduled midwife appointments as early as possible, but today I went in about 90 minutes later than normal. That was perfect, because getting the hydraulic line disconnected ended up being more difficult than anticipated. It took probably almost an hour to disconnect that silly thing. And since it took so long, Phil ended up just pulling both. They're the same vintage, same wear and tear, and how depressing to have spent the time and effort to replace the one broken one, only to have the other go out soon (we could easily imagine it).
It was fascinating to see how the machine shop fabricated the new lines. They have a clamp-er machine that clamps down on the metal to connect the metal tip with the rubber hose. The worker changed out one size clamper and put in a different size in just a few seconds. He cut the hose to about the right length, give or take a half inch, put a new metal piece on each end, and put the ends through the clamp-er machine to tighten them down. Done!
When I got home, the electricians were just about done with the wiring at the barn.
After lunch and a short consult, they left for the day. We had expected that part of the process to take the better part of three days, so kudos to Phil for getting everything ready so perfectly. He had marked the spots for wires, and though the electricians checked his work, they didn't need to change anything. To finish a project in about five hours that we had expected would take three days ... it was a rare feat in this project, and a feeling of triumph.
It took Phil some time to get the hydraulic lines hooked back up, but he is back again digging.
As hard as the soil is, I think it will be an every-spare-minute project.
Isaiah did some digging, too.
I woke up feeling just about all the way better, though my voice is raspy. My baby belly didn't grow just the standard 1cm this last week—it grew two! And since I have always measured 3cm small, I think my 39cm belly (measured from pelvic bone to top of uterus, so right over the top of the bump) is now officially the largest I've ever had. Grow, baby, grow!
No comments:
Post a Comment