Today was the first day in a long time that we have rammed any walls. I have been looking forward to getting stuck in for months, however health and other issues have held us up.
I was excited to be well enough so started forming up early on the foundations we laid a couple of days ago…
I planned to do 2, though thought we may get three done as they were only small sections. This is as far as I got before it was time to do our devotionals (Jesus Time) and have breakfast.
After that, I got distracted with the smells of fresh bake muesli slice and decided to chop up some meat and make some jerky. A couple of the kids made some different marinade and the kitchen was in full swing!
An errand up to the gate turned into an hour trying to find something to help someone, then finally could get back to forming up! I worked on this while a couple of the kids used the bobcat to finish mixing the rubble.
Two walls ready to start:
Just as the mix was nearly ready, the youngest boy on the worksite stated we should check the air compressor – which always starts first pop. No need but ok why not I replied…of course it wouldn’t start. The battery was totally dead.
2 minutes of finding battery chargers and charging and still no go – we had to take the battery out of the bobcat to star the air compressor then put it back again.
Finally we could start ramming – though my daughter reported there was air leaking from one of the bobcat tyres…normally not a big deal. But today it was leaking out of the side wall which was splitting. We started to try to fix that in between ramming. Another 20 minutes wasted.
But it looked like it would hold for the rest of the day…maybe!
The Big M trying ramming for the first time…
We started to get into a rhythm and were nearly at the top of the 1st form on both walls when…
The bobcat tyre gave out altogether. Numerous phone calls to try to find the best solution – should we stop here & continue tomorrow with a new tyre? Could we get one in Perth? Did we have the funds?
We decided to keep going using an old rim with busted tyre to limp through the rest of the wall… This involves treating the bobcat very gently, and keeping about half a bucket full in at all times to keep pressure off the rear wheels. Great training for our budding bobcat driver!
Everything takes longer while limping the bobcat – it gets bogged easily, scooping up mix is virtually impossible and the movements are erratic – but, despite this, a blown air hose and a couple of interruptions, we managed to finish the wall by 3:30.
Time for lunch, a little bit of office work, arrange a new tyre, get the orders posted and get Sharmini & the kids off to Bible study. As it turns out, someone up here was able to get us a couple of tyres so a quick trip out and by 7pm had a new tyre fitted to the bobcat rim.
Just enough time to put the marinated jerky in the dehydrator, tidy up with the babies (and of course a bit of hide & seek!), some emails planning our Passover and then prepare a bit of a late night snack for the kids and Sharmini upon their return – and its bed for me!
It’s been a rewarding day, despite the issues – and the progress is great.
Have to start early to get the other bobcat tyre sorted and see if we can do the other 3 walls tomorrow – I wonder what fun will pop up tomorrow? But not worried – God has it in hand 🙂
“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
– Jesus Matthew 6:34 (NLT)