Total exhaustion

Yesterday we started work on the tank pad at daylight and continued all day.

To catch you up on the process, a representative from the tank company had previously come out and put up the stakes, marking the level on them. He instructed me to use the highest spot as ground level (I called it ground zero), which he labeled "grade" on the spec sheet he emailed me after he left. I was to fill in the low areas with "creek fill" (sand/gravel from the arroyo). Here's the specs: 

So I had Hugh pile said material in the low areas. But it bothered me a lot to think of a tank full of water perched on 11¼ inches of squishy sand on one side, and solid packed parking lot surface on the other side. I had visions of a leaning tower. I called the guy and the installer. They didn't see the problem, just "drive on it and pack it down." "Use dirt instead of sand," were some comments.

There was no mention of a retainer wall, but "just make the pad wider where the fill is the thickest." And since the tank was platted to be close to the stucco tank for convenience, there wasn't a lot of room to widen the pad. I agonized over this many sleepless nights. Meanwhile, I had Hugh remove the sand and replace it with dirt. Still I couldn't live with it.

So when my sons arrived yesterday morning, my mind was made up. I had them remove the dirt and then cut the high part down so everything was the level of the lowest spot (11¼" below ground zero). Then all surface was equal in every way.  No fill.

Next they leveled the new parking area, not perfectly but good enough. Right now everything is a dust bowl. Hope we get some rain soon to settle things down some. And we need to put more gravel from the arroyo on top of the parking areas so they don't get muddy. When Hugh's loader gets repaired I may ask him to do that.

Looking west into the late afternoon sun.

Tank goes on left side; overflow parking on right side.
 Foreground new parking area. Looking east.

My Austin son, Lee, needed to work today in Austin so they left Alpine at 2 AM. We're all dragging today. I was pretty worthless after spending all day yesterday raking and picking up rocks. I noticed Eric's back was hurting him bad today (he has fused discs in his back from a bad fall many years ago), and Lee didn't make it to work. I really should have stayed at the oasis so I could water today. Nothing has been watered for 2 weeks, other than the drip I keep on the cottonwood. But I needed a day to recover. Guess I'll go back down and water tomorrow.

The finish sand is scheduled to be delivered Oct 12, and the install is scheduled for the week of the 23rd. Can't wait! The boys had to install an electrical outlet near the tank site for the installers to use. But the whole electrical thing hasn't been fixed yet. That's the same line that my 220 volt pump is on that doesn't work. I'll be sure to have no faucets turned on the day of installation so hopefully they'll have enough amperage to operate their tools.