Wildfire repairs & upgrades at Twilight

A little update from the lands of wildfire...

Albeit not a very artistic nor a beautiful blog feature but... here it is... i give you... one electrical service weather head now strengthened and supported beyond what is required by either County or PG&E, my electrical company...

In the distance, you can see the the transformer which PG&E replaced on June 18th, as well as the wiring which comes to the well house via a middle tree pole. Evidently, that is 1000 pounds of pressure being put on this little weather head.

One of my ranch neighbours had some very specific ideas about how the weather head could be better supported... so he kindly donated his time & designed roof & wall 'shrouds'. That's a nautical term which seems to depict all the shiny metallic parts put together for the overall look & function. Since the well house is home to Brigit's altar- we decided that 'cloak' would be a more suitable term.

But i digress... Two lengths of wire rope attached, appropriately to the same bracket that holds PG&E's electrical line, travel at the 'correct' angles towards the opposing wall of the well house and attach to homemade doug fir brackets that have huge eyelets that run through their 2x8 wood.

Another pair of wire rope shrouds travel from these wall brackets down to a set of big hefty ground anchors where they are securely attached... and, i might add, may they rest in peace there.

I will be monitoring their tauntness over the next 6 weeks... tightening the turnbuckles & wire rope if/when necessary before securing their position 'permanently' with wire.

A few suggestions were made to strengthen the interior side walls in the well house... because i was told that should the wind attempt to do the same trick again & succeed... that the entire structure would probably follow on that occasion. Sigh... not very likely but then... one never knows !

So... Thanks to Radzy, I got to learn all about wire rope, thimbles and terminal ends... as well as quick links, turnbuckles and ground anchors. An education, I assure you.

Well... It all sounds so grand and truly... the well house will look like a glorious modern art structure when the building upgrades are complete and after i give it a good coat of paint !

Speaking of modern art... above is a pile of drip irrigation parts that melted down or were damaged during wildfire day... these are just the remnants to the parts that i cant reuse... i'm the thrifty type so I cut out & kept all the small sections that i could do something with.

Due to the season and high heat temperatures (100-110F) I have been starting my days outside around 6.30am... watering, checking drip irrigation, making plumbing repairs, doing yearly maintenance checks... weed whacking, raking, white washing trees, wrapping trunks with foil... and/or cleaning up. By 10.30 and 12.30 though, its time to retire indoors for lunch and online work.

I am making slow progress inside the compound... but i will need to haul piles of cut chapparal to new bonfire piles and repair fencing... but one day, it will all come together and i can take photos and share a slideshow with you.

As to outside the compound... that will require more time as i will have to take a shovel, rake and saw for cleanup. The biggest concern... will have to do with rock falls and water drainage throughout the upcoming winters.

A fundraising report will be posted separately... a grateful thanks to all that have been able to help us here at Twilight... These are difficult financial times for many, including myself, and i could not have begun on these repairs without your assistance.

THANK YOU from all my heart !