The Bridge Story: I love heavy earth moving equipment and when anything that sounds like that comes up the road, I run out to see it, always with the faint expectation that it's a backhoe or dozer and I'll have the courage to flag him down and he'll agree to move a boulder or dig a hole or something for me. And so one day I was drawn out by the sound of a tractor coming up the road. It was my neighbor and he was dragging a utility pole on a long chain. He stopped and after the pleasantries, he asked if I would like one. I flounced and fawned and ended up getting two. They were so heavy they flattened the wheels on my handcart so all moving was done by rolling, levering and skidding. It took an entire day to maneuver one pole to the stream bank. (Pre-come-along days) It took a year to get the second, big one across. It was newer and thicker and much heavier than the first which I got across in a couple of days. I dropped both poles into the stream during the course of my maneuvers. I raised them incrementally on cement blocks, 4x4's, and all sorts of levers and pry bars. I would abandon the project for weeks, too intimidated to go on, until one day the inspiration would kick in and I would make progress. So for a year after getting them next to each other across the stream, I crossed on a 2x6 nailed along the middle of their length. Over this, I wheel barrowed heavy loads of rocks and cement rubble from the chimney project. And this summer I got the lawn mower across by tipping it sideways at a balanced 45° and rolling it over on two wheels.

August 28: I'm giving the shed renovation it's own page.