Trench digging for power and internet

Pick, pick, pick...

Finally some more progress on this thing.  We debated a long time about renting an excavator or some kind of trench digging machine.  I tried poking at the hard ground a bit, and despite being very nasty to dig through, it is possible.   I stopped at Harbor Freight on the way home last night and bough a pick-axe that was on sale for about $16 with a 5 lb head on it.   A few whacks with that I realized this is the tool I needed!  It will be sweaty work, and we have had a lot of 85 degree days too.  A couple hours after work (and even after dark) and I feel I've made good progress.
I think by the weekend I'll have the trench dug, and possibly have conduit in place for power and internet.  I'll need to find some CAT6a cable on the internet as well as power cable and put in an order for that.  I think that can just be pulled through that easy enough.

Toward observatory site

Next, a trip under the house crawlspace is in order to track down the power cables and make a splice for that and a hole in the wall to run it outside.  Also, I'll probably just run a cable from the internet/network closet directly outside near the power, but with about 12 inches apart.  150 feet of that should be more than enough.

Looking toward house. 

Just a reminder....

With the crap going on in the world the last few days, just remember one small thing...

Pier hole digging.

Truck not needed. 

Progress on the observatory is moving along slowly.  I finally close on the sale of my old house in Renton and got a nice check which went directly to the bank.  I'm still wondering if the new owner even opened the door to that "shed" in the backyard and saw that his mower will have to park next to that pier in the shed?  :-)
I have plenty of funding now to put into this new project.  Lately, I have been slowly digging through our very rocky yard to get down a few feet for the pier foundation.  Not too hard to do, but I keep running into large rocks that need to be dug around and pulled out.  Originally, I was going to put in a 12 inch sonotube for the mounting, but looking at the firmness of the surrounding hole I may just fill it with cement and put in a welded base with the threaded mounting screws.  I'll think about that more as I go along.

Pier hole digging.

Yes, that pathetic tree still needs to move.  We have had very hot weather into the 90s lately and the tree is drooping now, and it's just too hot to work on this.
Yesterday we went to Home Depot and bought some 12 foot pieces of wood to build the outer form for the cement slab.  Traci was sure we could use my car, so I kind of reluctantly agreed to try it.  She was right, anytime you put a little red flag on the end of something you can make anything fit in a Toyota!  I do miss having a truck though.