I woke up feeling a little defeated. That whole "running in slow motion" thing. Another day of working. Another day of diverting Trent from a little well deserved R&R. Another day, another day, another day! I started things off getting a few supplies I needed - some retainer stones and cap rocks and weed cloth and river rocks from HD, then some plants from The Great Outdoors. TGO almost ALWAYS produces a state of euphoria in me. Not so today. Not TGO's fault - no, not at all. Just illustrating my level of "had-it-up-to-here" -edness. If TGO can't get me high, nuthin' can.
Got home and got the party started. Trent was still game for helping me out, bless him. I had sprayed the second coat of pruning sealant on the wooden disks before I went out to do my errands, so by the time I was back, they were ready to go. We got the disks screwed to the cans, then started trying to drill the holes for the drains. That was NOT fun.
The first attempt involved drilling a pilot hole, then trying to use a jigsaw to cut out the rest. No dice. Then one of us remembered that we have a whole set of spade bits. Bingo!
Pilot holes
Here, Trent's using a spade bit to enlarge the pilot holes. Oh, if only that were as dirty as it sounds!
Once the holes were drilled, I put the drains in.
First ya schmear the bottom of the pipe with aquarium sealant...
Then you mash it in the hole!
Close up of the drains. Can't remember if I already posted one...
Used some low tack tape to keep the drains upright while the aquarium sealant dried. Taa Daa!
OH. EM. GEE. Holy Shit. The damn poles are in the cans. Be still my beating heart. This is the last one we set. And of course, it was the most difficult. Not because it was heavy - nope, it was by 2 feet the shortest one. And not because we did anything different. Nope, lather, rinse, repeat. What was the problem? We have no idea. The quickrete just wouldn't set up. Where we used 2 bags of concrete for the other two cans/poles, we finally had to add a third bag to this one. That finally got it to hold the lumber plumb. Not sure what happened, but whatever. It seems ok now. I hope!
Me. Holding the lumber. Watching concrete set up. Or not.
Me again. Still holding the lumber. Still watching concrete dry. Jeeze.
Free standing wood. Yay. (Take that and do what you will with it.)
If you look at that last one carefully, you can see where I've set the bigger trash cans in in between the smaller ones. These will be planted with the blackberries tomorrow. Unfortunately, my b.berry plants have already had one bad shock this year (when I dug them up) and are about to get another (when I replant them). They made it through the first and will likely make it through the second, but I won't get much of a crop this year. Blackberries fruit on 2 year old canes, and all of my mature canes died from shock. There is fresh, new growth on all of the plants, but they won't do me much good this year. Oh well, at least they're up and off the ground now, and out of danger of becoming a bramble.
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