First, dig a hole in the ground
Thankfully, I watch the world around me, because there are so many things that we weren’t taught in school but that, eventually, need to be mastered. I mean, I could probably “do” open-heart surgery, or shoot a crossbow, or shingle a roof if needed. I have watched a lot of educational television over the years. There are other, better trained individuals out there, so I probably won’t be waging medieval warfare in an operating theatre with a leaky roof near you any time soon. Other jobs do pop up from time to time, and I’m ready to try my hand.
I remember watching my sister make mudpies, and I once helped smooth a basement floor, so yesterday’s foray into home concrete came without stress. The bags have instructions: mix with water. I knew that the bags were heavy, from trying to wrestle a couple of them into a shopping cart earlier this week, and the hose still provides water on demand. But first, a hole (in the ground).
There’s a myth that this whole subdivision used to be a farm covered with lush fields of cabbage. Or maybe that was leafy; anyhow, they sold all the dirt for lawns elsewhere in the city, and then when we had to “landscape” they brought more in (at a cost). No excess here; after eight inches (20 cm, give or take a wormcast) I was into the rock. Limestone, the kind that they use dynamite to fracture. I made the decision to accept my lot, and after some time with a variety of shovels, there was a clean pit, roughly sixteen inches square (40 cm) with a solid rock bottom.
I don’t own a wheelbarrow, so I mixed two bags of Readymix in a bucket, batch by batch. The scientific procedure of a given quantity of powder with a related quantity of water was set aside; I mixed by “the look and feel” of the thing. Now, the various websites warned against too much water or not well-mixed, so I erred on the side of both and managed to make enough grey dough to fill the hole almost to the top. And then, like a cherry on top, I placed my galvanized steel pipe in and made it “true” with the bubble level I’ve kept in the basement over the years (for just such a job). In retrospect, mixing concrete requires that certain muscle groups be prepared for the effort. Mine weren’t…
It’s been a day. The concrete feels solid, and the pole is still aligned vertically. Here’s a picture.
I’m feeling rather satisfied. By the time my new antenna arrives (three to six weeks), the lump will have “cured” properly, and I can begin a new era of communicating with the world. In passing, I got through to the Dominican Republic last evening, using only a few feet of wire strung across the bed, so this whole thing might be overkill, but a hobby requires effort and money to feel like a real pastime.
