The Kirkpatrick's D.I.Y. Project for 2005
Prepping for Power
September 30 - October 2, 2005
We are still a long way from having permanent electricity, but we
have officially taken the first step. The work order has been submitted
to Allegheny Power and the trench has been prepared.
We're afraid to see how many trees the power company removes along
Turkey Hollow Road. They wanted to cut a 20 foot swath of trees
from beside the driveway, but we didn't want them to, which is
why we opted to have the power line installed underground along
the driveway instead. It will be sad to lose so many trees.
Here's Mike's car. The trailer is full of electrical conduit
(needed for the power line installation) and my parents' old
washing machine. That's one less thing we have to buy...
The vertical pipe with the yellow tape
is electrical conduit we installed just before
the concrete slab floor was poured. The pipe in
the trench is to hold the well tubing.
Our excavator had to dig about a 200 foot trench along the
driveway to house the power cable. He gave us some phone cable
to add to the trench, too, along with some tracer wire. The
tracer wire is how Miss Utility detects underground cables.
There was lots of shale piled in the driveway. Mike had that
"time to get to work" look on his face, so I decided to go into
town for groceries. We needed supplies because my parents
were coming up for the day to visit.
Fortunately, I took the camera with me.
This is a beautiful young buck. I hope
he is able to survive hunting season.
While I was in town, Mike unloaded the conduit and positioned
it along the trench so it would be ready for us to glue together.
Just as we were about to get to work, Mom and Dad arrived.
Not being one to sit still long, Dad decided to give Mike a hand
while Mom and I looked on. They look a bit confused, don't they?
It didn't take long for Mom and I to get bored, so I took her on a
driving tour of the neighborhood and countryside around Romney.
We saw this cute little deer on the way.
After we got back, Mom sat for a bit on her Hugo (a walker).
And I got busy documenting the progress.
Mom decided to walk down the driveway, too.
But it is pretty steep, so she turned around.
You can see her walking back up the driveway as
Dad and Mike put the connected conduit into the trench.
Mike admires their work.
The laborers return from a hard day in the trenches.
"How do they manage to avoid the dirty work every time?" Mike asked.
"You know, that's a good question!" Dad replied.
The underground cables are in place. We
should have electricity in about a month.
Mike spent most of the day on Sunday
hooking up the "workings" for the well pump.
Next we move the shingles up to the roof in
preparation for shingle installation on October 15.
