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An early morning view north across the south-west meadow; the gap in the
trees is theWestbrook crossing. I had some peaceful time over here before the men appeared with
their tools. |
John and Richard emerging from the woods, each hauling a garden cart with
useful tools. Now the work would begin. |
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Collision with a tree branch caused this big dent. Attempts to
push it out by hand from inside (with the tank lying on its side) were unsuccessful. It's going to
take a jack and some lumber to do the job... |
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First they had to push the tank onto its side, and roll it so that the
access hole was down. |
Then John crawled into it, and we passed in the tools--tractor jack,
hammers, pipe jack handle--and lengths of board for him to use. |
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Because the interior of the tank created confusing echoes, John
stayed right at the entrance while he and Richard discussed what to do next. |
At this point, the photographer became a participant, and there
are no more pictures of the procedures. John took all the tools and lumber with him to the other
end of the tank, the base. Richard and I heaved and shoved and grunted, and got the tank back
upright. We put a ladder next to the tank on the access port side; I climbed up so I could relay
messages between John and Richard (and see what was going on.) However, I was not about to attempt
photography from up there, lest the flash distract John at a critical moment--as when he had a
couple of boards balanced on his head and the top end of the 2x4 going up from the jack, and was
trying to work the jack handle without dislodging the boards. Once the dent was out, I climbed
down, John moved himself and everything to the side of the tank nearest the access port, and
Richard and I heaved and shoved and turned the tank back on its side. |
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And here it is, back to its proper shape. The small soft "dimple" left in
the top is not critical--the hard fold over the seam between side and top was. |
That afternoon, we took Michael over there, and he rolled the tank around
from inside before we set it back up. I crawled in with him for several exciting rolls around. |
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Friday evening, I took this picture of approaching clouds which we'd been
told would bring some rain. But we'd seen clouds like this before, which passed overhead without
dropping anything significant. Would it really rain, or was this another setup for
disappointment? |
Saturday morning brought rain, indeed, warm rain on a south-west wind. We
got 1.2 inches altogether. |
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While walking along the dry creekbed after the rain, I spotted this lichen
fruiting body that had fallen onto the ground. It probably greened up after the little rain earlier
in the week, but it looked very bright and perky against the dark wet leaves and limestone
rocks. |
The limb of a dead tree that had fallen across the dry creekbed had a
little hollow--and in the hollow a tiny moss plant responded to the rain by turning brilliant
green. |
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This evening, the sunset was almost as brilliant as that on
December 28. It started in shades of pale gold and gray (I didn't get outside fast enough to
photograph those; it was changing every second), and went on to brilliant golds, oranges, and
pinks. To the north, some clouds made pink swirls...to the south, pink, rose, and orange rays.
West, a rich orange at the treeline, and then rippling swathes of yellow, gold, and orange. |