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Digging and jamming

One of the things which has been bothering me for quite a while (like, several years, to be honest) is the electric cable running from the house to the big shed. I think it was years ago one late autumn, when I asked a neighbour to help me with installing the cable. He made the connections on both ends, but since I had not arranged anyone to dig a ditch with an excavator, we left the cable just lying on the yard. I tried to dig the soil with a spade, but it turned out to be very thick and dense, rather hard to dig. So I only peeled away the top layer which was relatively easy, and quickly buried the cable. Since then I've been thinking that since four of my neighbours have excavators of their own, I should just ask any of them to come dig a deeper ditch to properly bury the cable.

All in all, it is very handy to have electricity connected to the big shed. In the wintertime I keep my car inside the shed. That way the car windows don't freeze during the night, and I can connect electric heater which greatly helps to get the engine started in cold temperatures. But as I might have said, sometimes I have problems with managing all of my timetables - I get something done, and some other things just get postponed and delayed... Well, especially in spring when the snow is gone there is a lot of water in the soil, and the yard easily becomes a little muddy. I've been worried that sooner or later my car, or a tractor, or a horse hoof will mix the wet mud and accidentally hit the electric cable.

Yesterday, after my morning coffee, I felt that it is finally time to get this thing done. I reasoned that since the soil has not yet completely dried, it should be easier to dig now. But first I needed to resurface the cable. Just for safety I disconnected the fuse, and grabbed the cable at the house end and started pulling. Yup, I didn't need to dig, as the cable was covered by only an inch or two of mud and sand. So I just pulled the cable up. I took a spade and started digging. And sure it was a lot easier than the last time I tried. I started with a knee-deep hole at the shed end, and went on working towards the house. I thought to myself that with an excavator the whole thing would be completed in a hour or two. But working manually, it will take a day or two. But I've increasingly started to feel that I need more physical exercise, since both coding and massaging aren't that much a strain for muscles. And I feel that a healthy amount of physical work is good for health, and for emotional well-being. At some point I set up the digital devices to play some music for me. I chose a band called The Cat Empire, which a good friend introduced to me a week ago. And sure, they got me digging and jamming!

Today I dug the last few metres, and set the cable to the bottom of the ditch. I started to fill the ditch, and when it was nearly back to the level of the yard, I placed a thick white nylon cord into the ditch. Then I moved the last of the sand back into the ditch. That left the white nylon cord buried some two inches under. The idea is that if for any reason in the future I or someone else needs to dig the yard, the white nylon cord will surface first - alerting anyone working that there is a electric cable buried deeper.

Now that the work is finally done, I feel peaceful, satisfied and somewhat physically tired. So, I'd guess it is time to heat up the sauna.

Digging
Digging
From the house to the shed
From the house to the shed
A white nylon cord to mark the location of the cable
A white nylon cord to mark the location of the cable
A post-work can of beer
A post-work can of beer
tags: 
diary
homesteading
music
up
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Comments

Wow, Cat Empire is a really damn good band. Love it!

Yup. If they were chefs, it would be like abandoning the cook book and freely tossing what ever ingredients into a kettle, combining herbs and spices, and then serving a rich tasty stew =)

Yeah, I noticed too that they really like to experiment a lot with sound. Very hard to feel bad with this kind of music feeding your ears. :D

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