Black Flies and 50 Cubic Feet of Concrete

After a long hard day on the hill, we've got one fine 10 ft square pad finished! The day started with Steve Pielock and I making a run to Friendly Fred's for a little diesel fuel for the tractor. We got a bit of sticker shock, $4.75 per gallon! Just a couple of years ago that would have been the price for 4 gallons.

A quick fix of a tractor tire leak, and we were in business. First step: Move some of the load of Bank Run gravel blocking the road past the barn, then back fill some low spots in the road so cars can make it to the top of the hill. Thirty minutes later, Dan Carnevale, Ray Burk, Barry Hervieux, and John Davis were at the summit unloading supplies and prepping the pad across from the Gaertner when Joe Zuraw showed up with the cement mixer in tow. Just as we got the forms and the rebar in place for pad one, Peter Scherff showed up with the generator. Now that good timing! I made a quick trip up to the rain barrel at the pavilion for water, and with help from Steve on the tractor, we had all of are supplies marshaled.

A chilly and overcast morning turned comfortably warm (60's) and sunny. If it weren't for the massive swarms of black flies, it would have been a great day to work on the hill. Steve wondered by we were all waving to him every time he brought up another tractor load of gravel... we swatted constantly all day.

With a couple a pulls on the starter rope, we were ready to pour cement. We got in a steady routine: Me, John and Ray loading gravel, Barry wrestling with the mixer, Dan and Peter on rakes and shovels spreading cement, with Joe supervising the mix and doing whatever else needed to be done. Ten shovelfuls of gravel, two of cement, half a bucket of water... mix for a couple minutes, dump the load, spread... repeat... for about 4 hours.

Finally, we had what looked like a pad. We cleaned up and put things away. Bags of cement that early in the day were no problem for me to pick up now were a struggle for Dan and I to lift together. Hands ached and cramped up. Backs were sore. Time for Advil and cold drinks. Joe, Dan and Barry stuck around and did some finish work after the pad set up for a while. Dan and Barry were going to stay for observing. I hope they did, it seemed like a pretty clear night.

I had hoped we would be able to get 2 pads poured, but I woefully underestimated the effort. Our June effort will now be focused on pouring the pad up by the telescope storage shed. Maybe two pads is all we'll do this year.

Thanks to all the participated in this effort. This was hard work and the black flies made things miserable at times. No one complained, everyone pulled together, and we got the work done. I think the pad will be a great addition for our star parties. The pad is plenty big to set up a very large dob and still have room for an observing ladder.

We also worked in the annual meeting, and had a nice surprise visit from a big group of tourists from Miami, Florida. More on both in my next posting, hopefully in a few days. Look for news on Arunah Hill Days, upcoming events, and maybe even an exciting new product to add to the Arunah Hill line of clothing and accessories.

Fog, Rain, and Gravel... and More Gravel

The Saturday May 3 work day started off with the hill covered by thick fog and some steady moderate rain. From the top of the hill I couldn't see the Gaertner building. Slowly things improved, and Joe Zuraw, Dan Carnevale, Ray Burk, John Davis, Barry Hervieux, and Peter Scherff assembled to work on getting the telescope pad foundations layed out. For the rest of the day we seemed to have off and on drizzle, with the temperature struggling to hit 50. The night's view session at Notchview was obviously not going to happen, but credit Dan for optimism. He brought a scope up "just in case".

First step was to decide where to locate the pads. The four locations are:

1. Just across the road from the Gaertner (be careful driving around there in the dark!)
2. Just down from the ramp of the telescope storage shed
3. Below the upper parking lot
4. Half way between the clubhouse and the upper parking lot.

The next step was to scrape down the soil for the pads, then level the area with a good foundation of gravel. Sounds simple. Well, one truism on the hill is that nothing is level, and when you are on the hill what looks level to your eye probably isn't. Leveling pad #1 near the Gaertner proved to be a challenge... just one more tractor load of gravel turned into more than a dozen. While Joe drove the tractor the rest of us worked with shovels, rakes, and hoes to spread things out and try to level things off. With a couple of hours of hard work and lots to measuring with the level, we got things about ready. By this time it became pretty clear we weren't going to have the time, energy, and gravel to prep all four pads.

Next up was pad #2, by the telescope shed. We had what looked like a fairly level spot of exposed bedrock a starting point... surely this wasn't going to take very long to grade out with gravel.... about 20 tractor loads later, with the southeast side now raised up 2 or 3 feet, we had things more or less level and ready for concrete.

By now it was after 3PM, time for most of us to call it a day and brave the mud around the barn. Barry and Ray stayed on a while longer to do some tree work.

Thanks to all the helped out. I hope for an even larger crowd next week for the cement mixing and the annual meeting.

-Ed

Public Observing at Notchview - 5/3

IF Mother Nature cooperates, Arunah Hill's first outreach event for 2008 will take place at Notchview (Windsor, MA) on Saturday, May 3.

Notchview is a great site for public observing -- it's right off Route 9, has an excellent Visitor's Center, and the staff is very accommodating.

More information on the facility is posted to the Internet.

djc

Springtime at Arunah Hill

Warm weather has cleared away the snow. Barry visited Arunah on 4/22 and found dry ground, cleared roads and NO washouts.

djc

Winter in April

It might have been 50 degrees and sunny down in the valley, but it was still definitely winter up on the hill. I parked by the mailbox, I didn't dare test the driveway. Dan Carnevale was able to drive up past the barn, but had his 4 wheel drive pickup pretty well covered in mud and slush by the time he had parked.
Dan and I walked part of the property (following in some of Ray Burk's footsteps). The roadway was a mix of 2 foot ice ruts, slush, and a bit of mud and some flowing water. A robust flow of water seemed to be under much of the roadway.

The picture at right tells the story... Dan was walking along the road just fine when one step burst through the snow crust and suddenly put him knee deep in heavy snow.

After walking less than half way up the hill both of us decided it wasn't worth risking our creaking knees, and we turned around. No work to be done on the top of the hill today anyway.

Dan and I strategized about the upcoming work days of pouring the telescope pads, then called it a day. With luck and some sunshine we'll have the pads ready to pour on the May workday.

-Ed

Almost Spring?!

It's a azure blue afternoon, on what's officially the second day of Spring, March 22, 2008. The sky is crisp, clear, and spectacular, and promises to be very transparent for the near full moon rise later tonight.I'm just taking an afternoon to see how

the hill wintered and take a few pictures. First observation is that the driveway didn't look like something my old van was up to, so I just parked on Trouble Street and walked in. The snow looks to be 3 feet deep in parts of the driveway. The hill must have had a pretty good ice storm recently, the trees on the west end of the clearing glittered with thick ice.

The clearing was a solid blanket of deep snow with a granular crust, with only a few tiny animal footprints to mar the scene before my size eleven's tamped up the place. Even though temperatures were in the mid '40's down in the valley today, not much melting took place on the hill. The quiet beauty of the place was overpowering. A lonely hawk circled past, the only other living thing I saw for the couple of hours I stayed on the hill.

I walked out to the lean-to on the Pilated Path, then hiked up to Scout Heaven to check on everything. It's amazing how well these structures are holding up through years of stormy winters and humid summers. The Zuraw's and friends build solid!

The snow mostly supported my weight, but every once in a while gave way to reveal hip-deep powder! But it won't be long now before the ever rising sun starts to melt the snowpack, and the hill is again abuzz with members setting up telescoopes, scout groups camping out., and not even too long to the Volent's Memorial Day feast.

But for today the hill was sublime in its solitude.

-Ed

February Work Day - Slip Sliding the Day

After a bit of snow and ice the night before, the roads around AH weren't in great shape, but with an OK forecast I still had hopes for a Winter Star Party.

Alas... the ice and clouds both proved persistent. Steve Pielock and I made run into "downtown" Cummington for a load of sand, and after spreading a few hundred pounds of the stuff, my van still couldn't make it to the barn! Steve's 4-wheel drive had not problems reaching the lower parking lot. Ray Burk and Glenn Benscotter also had 4-wheel drive vehicles, they ended up spending part of the morning pushing my minivan up and out of low spots.

Anyway, the clear skies in the forecast never materialized, but at least we got some sand down. If anyone wants to do some winter observing at AH, I'd strongly recommend you come in groups and have 4-wheel drive.

The 4 of us spend time cleaning out the barn. The mice had really made a mess of things. We filled up a 30 gallon trash bag, but I'm not sure that made much of a dent in things.

We'll see what March brings... maybe a Messier Marathon! If the weather cooperates...

Thanks to the hearty crew that showed up on a frigid icy February.