The Elysian Fields

Coolness! Amazon.com just introduced a new Contractor Supply Store that groups together all the pro-grade tools, equipment, and supplies. Must resist browsing there or I might get ideas...

In all seriousness, other than the items on the company's wish list (a good chunk of which can be found on Amazon), I'm mostly set on hand tools and smaller things for them moment. It's some of the larger items that are more critical! =)

• Voyeur bee watching me get out of the shower: check
• Yellow jackets buzzing around while loading the truck: check
• patrixa singing me a happy birthday while I navigate through the vast city of Weisport (i.e. all 550 or so feet of its cross-section): check
• 7 gallons of gas pumped into the gas and mix tanks: check
• One-quarter of the plot tilled three times: check
• Approximately 30-40 cubic feet of compost scooped, moved, dumped, and raked out prior to the second tilling pass: check
• Stop by the John Deere dealer to add a 7830 to my dad's collection: check
• Make it home before UPS comes with a hugeous box: check
• Discover that the scale of the Milwaukee 5342-21 2-Inch SDS-max Rotary Hammerreally doesn't come through via pictures on the web: check
• Discover that, if you consider your average consumer grade electric drill to be, say, sizewise, a 9mm pistol, the hammer drill is an Uzi, and the rotary hammer is an M-60: check
• Or maybe a howitzer: check
• Thinking there are air-powered jackhammers smaller than this: check
• Discovering it finishes off the hole that took the hammer drill almost an hour to make in about 5 seconds: check
• Discovering that it makes a brand new hole, cut clear through, in the same rock, from start to finish in about 30 seconds: check
• Realizing that I'm always right when I always say "use the right tool for the job": check
• Realizing this is the right tool for the job: check
• Watching Mr. B play with the John Deere collection: check
• Eating a dinner of pork sausage, garlic mashed potato, and corn: check
• Blowing out the candle on the ice cream cake: check
• Opening presents (including this and this!): check
• Eating a piece of the aforementioned ice cream cake: check

Yep, that's most of it. =)

We moved most of the nine tons of gravel and distributed it - the last one or two tons sit in a pile about 50 feet up the driveway.

Deb feels that the rake and shovel are faster, but I'd say the opposite, by nearly an order of magnitude.

So far, I've spent 3 hours plowing materials into place, and Justin spent 1 hour raking. From the resultant size, I'd say it's a healthy estimate to expect another hour of plowing, and, to be generous, 3 hours more of raking.

The guy across the street had 6 people working 4 half days (this is a guesstimate - one or two of those days were full days, the quantity of troops varied, and he also put another half day or more in afterward) using rakes, shovels, and a lawn tractor with a trailer to move materials.

So, that's 8 hours versus 100 hours. I would further estimate that familiarity with moving and grading the gravel could shave more time from my number, which we would certainly get if we did this the recommended two times a year.

Directions - check!
Truck - en route!

Rain - well, something has to make it interesting.

At least it's still warm. At the moment.

Well, whattaya know, another copy of Bill Ward's Ward One: All Along the Way (which I reviewed here) showed up on Amazon.com's used market...

While I would have paid twice what I did, I'm not sure I could cope with the $170+ price tag on this. Then again, I can say that because I, as they say (in absurd French accents) at certain castles, already got one. If I hadn't come across the earlier copy, I could probably rationalize nearly two bills for the disc...

Glad I don't have to, of course. Instead, I can try not to spend that money other places.

I've found a source for some violin & orchestra pieces I've been looking for - sure, you can find the Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso Op.28 and Danse Macabre, Op. 40 and even Zigeunerweisen Op. 20 (Saint-Saens, Saint-Saens, and de Sarasate, respectively) anywhere, if you're willing to settle for a violin and piano arrangement. Full score, baby, that's what it's all about. Or, in the case of those last two and Wieniawski's Concerto No. 2 in D Minor, Op.22, study scores (smaller, and a fraction of the cost.) Those tiny editions would suit me, as I have to pick through the solo violin part and transcribe it for guitar, and then take the whole rest of the orchestra and transcribe and stuff and mold and arrange it for, maybe, another guitar.

Sure, that might be easier taking the already watered down piano line, but, hey, I want to be able to water it down myself. And who knows, maybe I'll be able to distill the whole thing - solo and orchestra - into a single classical guitar. Like, maybe even a 10 String handcrafted guitar by Michael McBroom (with a western cedar top, palo escrito sides and bottom, Spanish cedar and ebony neck, ebony fingerboard, and a padauk bridge. Not that I've been thinking about it, of course.

Then again, there's also The Berkholtzer in 11 or 13 courses, by Danial Larson. Or my old, life-changing standby: John McLaughlin's custom Abe Wechter guitar, Marielle. Note that the guitar is different than the ex-wife's sister.

Of course, I could skip the whole string-thing altogether, and go for some Uilleann pipes by Seth Gallagher (in nickle silver, of course,) or an engraved set by Kirk Lynch (be sure to look at the other pictures - the instrument is beautiful!), or maybe even a slightly more affordable starter set from Uilleann Pipeworks of Boston.

Then again, I'll most likely just get a DR Field & Brush Mower.

Seriously, on the last - the other instruments are likes, but that last one fits multiple needs:

First off, it will make the meadow maintenance possible (the Field & Brush portion of its name.) Second, it will also meet the needs of a high quality mower, which we're overdue to replace the $100 special we bought to survive the first year or two. Bit over priced at $2K for the main unit and $0.5K for the attachment? Well, think of the price of a good mower and the price of a brush mower, which is what I was going to do when I started looking into it.

Still not quite a reasonable price, but the kicker is adding another $0.5K or so, and turning it into a snow thrower. Due to a gravel drive, we would have to get a more expensive two stage unit for a regular snow thrower - and, because that driveway is more than 300' long, we need a quality one. They range in price from $600 to $2100 - even given the middle of that price range, and now add in the price of the Honda mulching mower and a "cheap" but almost-similarly powered brush mower, and you're at about $3380. Add another $1100 for the better brush mower - and even that doesn't have some of the slope/terrain features of the DR, and suddenly you're well over cost. My big decision is really one of sizing (13 or 15 HP? - the decision rests mostly on which one will work best with the attachments I need.) They also have a plow (for snow or loose dirt/gravel) that might work better on the gravel, as well as provide additional utility (such as spreading new gravel on the driveway; past storms prove that might be likely, not to mention that the damage from those same storms hasn't been repaired partially because I'm not looking forward to spreading the gravel by hand...)

Of course, what I really should do is go to bed because, well, I'm tired.