A Productive May Work Day

I arrived at the Hill around 11:00 with my stepson Tyler for the May work party. Joe, Kevin, Matt and Tom were just finishing attaching backhoe to tractor. After taking a few minutes to reverse the hydraulic hoses on the backhoe to their correct position, work began on the new culvert project. With Tom operating the backhoe and Joe maneuvering the tractor,the trench along the south side of the road was dug out. Matt tidied up the sides with a shovel.

Kevin, Tyler and I began work on the damaged culvert further up the road. Ray headed to top of hill for work on the weather station. Steve and DeeDee showed up and went up to help Ray and do a little mowing. Dee went out for gas and diesel as the rest of us continued with the various projects. Ray and Steve removed anemometer from clubhouse so it could be placed on pole with the other instruments. Kevin and I were working on how to repair the broken culvert. We removed part of the damaged end and after a trip to the barn to look for materials to support a concrete patch, Kevin found some steel mesh that we rolled into a tube a pushed into culvert from lower end. Tyler cleaned out end of culvert and we pushed the mesh in until Kevin was able to grab it and get it in place. We mixed up hydraulic cement and spread it over the mesh, and after waiting for it to setup, we mixed up some regular concrete and finished the patch. Tom, Joe and Matt got the new culvert in place and after several loads of gravel and a load of stone the road was passable again. Only one of the mowers was operational and that quit after a few passes. While Matt, Joe and Tom were putting the finishing touches on the road, Kevin, Tyler and I headed up to finish things up. Kevin and Ray got all the weather instruments in place, installed new batteries and after a few resets it was up and running. I did some maintenance on the clubhouse batteries, tinkered with the lawnmowers and called it a day. Tom put the 17.5" mirror back in the telescope shed and a productive work day came to a close. We left the hill just after 6:00 pm, tired but pleased with what was accomplished. Barry