'Tanks' a lot!

 7:25 am - Super Bowl Sunday - February 9th - TWW - 34° F, 44% humidity, wind 7 mph out of the east by southeast.....mostly cloudy today with a forecast high of 59° F.  On this date in 2014 I was a guest of Riverside Community Hospital in Riverside, CA recovering from double hernia surgery....

.....wow....I didn't see that coming!

The humidity overnight Friday was almost 100%, and still at 85% when we awoke.  The result?  It looked like it had been raining outside all night Saturday morning! Typically the humidity level first thing in the morning is around 50%, or lower like it is this morning (Sunday - 44%).  I was still getting over my lower back issue, so I set my sights low for Saturday.  First thing out of the box was to reattach the support arm on the patio awning I wrote about yesterday, so I got out our telescoping ladder, and with TLE holding same ladder, drilled the holes.  Within 10 minutes the four Phillips head screws had been tightened down, and our patio awning was deployed.....

....for the first time since our arrival almost 4 months ago.  Our 'lido deck' is beginning to take shape...now all we need is some lawn furniture, right?

I'm not sure if I have mentioned it, but way back last April when Phyllis first bought the property she bought 8 fruit bearing trees, and had them planted here.  There are two apple trees, and then one tree each: apricot, plum, peach, almond and walnut.  As you know we must haul in our fresh water for the house, as well as the trees.  Many months ago Charles purchased an additional 2,500 gallon water tank to service those trees, but until Saturday it has sat on its side near the trees.  They've been watering the trees weekly (two times per week in the summer) from the 6 IBC water totes used to haul water to the property.....

.....it has been awaiting the construction of a base for it to sit upon, and Saturday we began to build that base....

....I began by scraping (using the bucket of the Ford 420) a 15' x 15' square pad, upon which Charles, Phyllis and TLE spread out some underlayment, then I hauled (again, using the Ford 420) a bucket of 1/4 minus gravel, and another bucket of the larger gravel (3/4 minus?) which they spread over the underlayment.  Once we were satisfied it was level, they laid down eight 4" x 6" by 8' pressure treated beams.  Next we'll cover those beams with a circular plywood base (3/4" I think), and then set the tank on that.  Charles and Phyllis have that circular base at their home down in Phoenix where they've been giving it several coats of paint.  Hopefully, we can install that in a week, or so, and then get the tank setup, and filled with water for the orchard.

We had dinner around 4 pm.....TLE and Phyllis prepared Thai Chicken, maple baked bonbon squash, and a field greens salad....those ladies can cook!.....

.....we talked, ate and laughed as we always do.  Charles and Phyllis will be heading back early Sunday morning to Phoenix to celebrate Super Bowl Sunday with their family, and we will be all alone once again.  Time is quickly receding into the past tense as we approach 4 months here at TWW, and what a four months it will have been.  So much more to do in the final two months!

Thanks for stopping by!