Halfway through the week, the rock-moving project was running smoothly. Sam and Jackson were getting the hang of operating the big loader. The rock pit was continuing to grow, and the new drain was all covered up. And…
We got some extra manpower. Steve arrived!
Now there was one man per machine.
Sam operated the excavator. He continued to mine rock to use as a base layer. The majority of the rocks were ping-pong ball to softball-size, but a few basketball sized ones were in the mix.
Steve quickly learned how to run the loader. He brought rock up from the pit via the new road and dumped it for Jackson to spread.
Jackson was the primary dozer operator. He spread the rocks with the back of the blade and then he drove over everything, packing the rocks down to an even surface.
This process went on for a few days, until the compacted rock was about 8+ inches deep everywhere. The area in work was over 20,000 sq ft – almost half an acre! That equates to 500 cubic yards of rock, which is 100-200 giant loader buckets.
That’s a lot of trips! While the boys were busy with that, I photographed the vine maple shrubs that were changing colors.
To my surprise, the rock pit was quiet when I returned from my scenic walk. Sam was up by the building doing some precision-compacting with the excavator bucket.
The base rock was complete!
I still had my camera out, so I made the boys participate in a photo shoot.
The week culminated with the annual Fresh Hops Fest in Hood River! It was a well-earned reward!
Everyone left after the weekend’s festivities, much to the cats’ relief.
We were sad to see our friends leave, but there was more work to do. We got a few loads of gravel delivered. (How cute, Sam and I are in each other’s photos.)
Sam spread a thin layer just before it started raining. The new drain worked! And the gravel prevented mud and puddles from accumulating. We still need a lot more gravel, but it’s almost there!
Before:
After:
diamondgapbuild.com 