I'm still wrestling with the concreted posts between the house and garage. I've been unsuccessful with hoisting one of the posts out - it's a lot heavier than the first and I don't have long enough planks or an intact 'hole' to lever it up and out.
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| Situations vacant: Superman to lift posts :) |
So... what do you do if you can't beat 'em? Right, I said, let's bury it instead! I dug a deeper hole, only to be thwarted by the water table (about 1m from path level) making its presence known. Hmm... maybe I could bury it shallower under the path to the garage. More digging (equalling a bigger mess) and yay, that would work well except the wooden post stuck out a bit far. Hmm... maybe I could saw it off. Out came the bow saw and although the first third went fine, the blade started grabbing after that. I wish I could report that I whipped my chainsaw out and finished the job last night BUT I chickened out. I haven't used the saw down here yet and although I think I have the bar on correctly, I'd really like someone to confirm it. I've now got a tanalised 'round' post sawn through a third all round but nowhere near success. Plan D is to dig up even more ground and poke the wooden post end away from the vege garden with the concrete chunk buried shallowly under the path. I think I'll ask for more chainsaw lessons!!
Digging in old swampland is interesting. The surveyor's soil evaluation report in 2005 states that the first 200mm is peaty humus, highly pedal (pedal=soil structure is present) and well drained. From 200-500mm it is yellow sandy, silty, clay loam, moderately pedal, imperfectly drained; and from 500-1100mm it is gray sandy, silty, clay loam, poorly drained, non-pedal.
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| Left: Not too far down to strike water; right: wet squishy clay 800mm down |
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| Big worm - about the thickness of my little finger |
There are bits of wood and vegetation in various stages of decay along with lots of native worms; this is the largest that I've found so far.
Something I didn't know until recently was the mix up with the names of two bays round here. Captain Thomas Wing's original chart of Stewart Island had the names the right way round, but somehow the British Admiralty chart of 1857 had Halfmoon and Horseshoe Bays transposed.
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| from left: horseshoe-shaped Halfmoon Bay, Google map, crescent-shaped Horseshoe Bay |
I struggle with the devastating natural disasters that have occurred in the last six months - my new life here is so placid and tranquil that it's inconceivable to imagine the chaos from earthquakes, floods and volcanic eruptions in Christchurch, Japan, China, Australia, Hawaii and Indonesia. The Rakiura community and visitors raised $3000 or so for Canterbury last weekend by running a cake stall, sausage sizzle, raffle and craft stall; the famous weekly Quiz Night proceeds, Scavenger Hunt and mufti days will add to that total and go a wee way to help them get back on their feet.
