Today we had some gentlemen come and pour concrete into the giant hole we dug yesterday. You may recall that we had to dig a 24 inch wide hole 58 inches deep to the pole that will hold our solar panel array. The problem is that the amount of concrete needed to fill a hole that size requires mixing 26 80-lb bags of concrete. The solution is that Kate found some concrete ninjas who do this regularly.

I once worked construction with a guy who said: “Concrete waits for no man.” What this means is that concrete is a force of nature and does not negotiate. Once you get concrete wet a timer starts. If you don’t have the concrete where you want it to be when that timer goes off, then too bad.

The concrete ninjas showed up on time with the bags of concrete and their mixer. Within 45 minutes they were headed home, the hole was full, and the work space was clean. They had a perfect system setup with an open bag on the tailgate. One guy would grab the bag, turn around, and pour it into the mixer. That is the best way to have to handle an 80 lb bag. I would have not been that smart.

Once they had 7 bags poured in the mixer was full for that load. They would get the water ratio right and add some pure cement to increase the strength. Once everything was set they just rotated the mixer 190 degrees and everything poured into the hole. They did 4 loads and were done.

Manuel recommended that we let the pole sit for a week before putting the solar panels on top. By then the concrete will be halfway cured. It will take a month until it fully cures.

Now that the pole is up we will begin working on connecting the wiring from the pole to the solar charge controller in the cabin. Then we will be able to hook everything up and have 12v and 120v electricity in the cabin! This week we will spend time finishing the inside wiring and pull wire to my shed/workshop/man cave.

Workout detail

I dug trail for an hour then the 3 of us went on a 26 mile bike ride. We went north west into the wind. We stopped halfway in the town of Dolores and had some snacks at the local grocer. It was a beautiful day and the ride felt great.