Report by Dennis CasebierIt was 42 degrees on our front porch at 6:30 AM with little or no breeze. By 11:00 AM it got up to 60 degrees with a pretty good little breeze out of the northeast.
The painters arrived just before 7:00 AM. The new building got a lot more yellow color yesterday. Much of today was spent touching up the green trim.
Building inspectors Gary Given and Steve Given were here this morning and toured the construction site.
Gail Andress and Gus Lind completed the pad for the 2,500 gallon potable water tanks today along with considerable work on our drainage system. That's the good news.
The bad news is that there was a failure in one of the hydraulic pistons that operates the backhoe on the tractor. Inasmuch as we were about to start on ditches for water lines, requiring the backhoe to be in constant and heavy use, that puts us in a bit of a bind.But you can't hold down Messrs. Andress and Lind. Gail went back home to Nelson this afternoon and got on the phone to the Case Tractor dealer and parts supplier in Las Vegas and made arrangements to pick up the needed part early in the morning before he comes over tomorrow. Once here, he and Gus plan to fix the piston and, assuming everything goes OK, we'll be back in business and can start digging the ditches for water lines.
As if that wasn't enough, beginning at about 2:30 PM we were hit by a squall, accompanied by lightning, thunder, and even some rain. It was severe enough that we turned off the breaker on the deep well pump and shut down the computers to avoid any damage from stray lightning.
That wasn't the last of the highlights for today. A break in the clouds permitted observation of the full moon rising in partial eclipse just as it was getting dark.
But now at 7:00 PM we're back about where we started this morning. Heavy overcast, very little wind, and about 43 degrees on our front porch. The full moon has disappeared behind the clouds.
