Healthy Fun

When this land was purchased as an age of 50 years approached, my plan was to have a life lived close to nature and to work with hand tools.  Several years later health issues mandated the purchase of machines so physical labor was assisted by noisy, polluting help.  Originally this driveway consisted of two ruts permitting truck access to a gravel bank.  The Town of Unadilla removed enough gravel each year to cover the taxes but otherwise access was limited.  An ancient field stone dump extended far enough into the lane from the left to require evasive steering to drive a small Subaru up the hill.  An impressive amount of stone was removed using hand labor to both widen the lane and build a stone wall.  Recent heavy rain had severely cut ruts on this downhill run and they needed attention.

A local contractor brought a bulldozer and three truckloads of gravel.  His work was impressive but apparently he saw my road as excessively wide.  Both sides required more fill to both raise the level of the roadway and define the drainage ditches.  The smooth wet surface that climbs the hill is the result of several days of physical effort on my part.  One of the things that I have learned is that it is impossible to pack dry sand.  Wet sand however will pack hard enough to resist runoff for some time.  It is also easier to unload wet gravel since it pours out of the trailer onto the road.  So this picture shows the result of several days effort moving gravel.  The other side of the lane also will receive some attention.

This is what remains of a truck load of gravel.  Given my age, the physical effort must be controlled to keep me out of the emergency room.  Thirty shovels full of gravel are moved from the pile to the cart to make a load.  Then a trip up the hill is made to add a sizable amount of water to the mix.  When that is dumped on the driveway, the combination of a down hill run and the mortar like consistency does most of the work.  Raking wet gravel is far easier than moving the dry stuff.  After the load is raked smooth and leveled, it is given several hours of inattention to allow the water to distribute itself.  When the surface is mostly hard, both the tractor then the pickup truck are used to pack down the new fill.

This view shows just how much gravel has been moved.  The original pile extended to where the cart is now parked.  On day one, I moved three loads and then took a break.  There was no chest pain but I did feel tired.  After some inactivity, another three loads were moved.  The following day the load count increased to four before a break was taken.  Now I am up to five loads and am expecting to place an order for another truck load to finish this job.  Anyone might be impressed if they knew the age of the resident workman.  The product of two consecutive prime numbers equals my age in years.  2X3 or 3X5 or 5X7 are small but consecutive prime numbers but you get the idea.  The master believes that there is only one correct answer.