From Micro Obsy to Dual Pier Observatory - via Hard Work, RSI, Back Ache & Melting Credit Card!

[ArmyAirForce]

2 minutes ago, Naughty Neal said:

Car drivers insurance......

Yes, they plan to, but I also have considerable experience of tradesmen not turning up to do jobs! Time will tell. A week on, BT/Openreach have only just realised there's a problem, having done a line test on the day and found no faults, so closed the case!!

[Naughty Neal]

Maybe one can get a settlement via the insurance so that one can carry out the rebuild persomally to your  exact requirements, it is very obvious you have the considerable finess & skills required.

Edited December 13, 2023 by Naughty Neal

[ArmyAirForce]

The builder that came to do the quote said it would be at least next year before they could do anything, but regardless, nothing can be done until Openreach dig up and re-install a new telegraph pole.

If I do have to rebuild it I will, but I have plenty of other big projects that I'd rather be putting my energy into. Openreach are supposed to be coming out on the 19th, but whether that's to replace the pole or stand around looking at it and head scratching some more, is still unknown.

Edited December 13, 2023 by ArmyAirForce

[ArmyAirForce]

Almost three months after the car crash, the front wall is rebuilt. The builders finished today, but were only working a week. We were waiting for the telegraph pole to be replaced, then the insurance to sort everything, the availability of the builders and then a delay due to a surprise early paternity leave for the brick layer! No big deal for us, as the garden hedge is behind the wall, which meant we couldn't see the damage from inside the house.

My own back garden brick laying is still waiting for the rain and gales to stop and the weather to warm up a bit. I'm currently decorating the hallway, where it is warmer and dryer, but sanding all the woodwork seems much harder than all the outdoor stuff I did last year!

I did manage to get out to the observatory on Saturday morning and was rewarded with some good seeing to catch the giant sun spot currently solar stage centre.

Edited February 26 by ArmyAirForce

[ArmyAirForce]

It's been a while since I updated this thread. While the current updates aren't related to the observatory, I want to finish the story of the garden rework, which is almost complete.

I left the story with news that was garden wall was rebuilt. That was as a result of a BMW that buried itself in my front garden wall and snapped the telegraph pole in December. Here's some pictures of the fun!

I haven't done a great deal of astronomy over the winter. The weather has been very poor over the Winter and even now, well into Spring, it has been chucking it down or blowing a gale. Add to that exhaustion from all the garden work and I haven't had the motivation on the odd night where it was clear.

Another Winter project, built inside in my workshop thankfully, is this Anti-butterfly air defence system. When we put the veggie planters in, the neighbours warned us about slugs. Nobody mentioned butterflies laying eggs and the hungry caterpillars! This frame has a 5mm mesh, which I'm told is too small for the butterflies. The 7mm netting we had over the planter last year didn't stop them.

[ArmyAirForce]

In early April, I spent a day weeding the small border along the hawthorn hedge - 70 feet out of 100 feet. I've left the bit behind the garage for now. I then dug in a load of sand to help break up the clay soil and help drainage. A week ago, Lynne and I went to a few local garden centres and came away with £120 worth of plants.

These were planted a couple of days ago and calculating for their future spread, they only did 60 feet of the border! I've got some other stuff that I'm growing from seeds, but wanted something down that would eventually help to control the weeds which spread from the other side of the hedge.

We also made a start on planting the railway embankment. Up by the kitchen, there's an area where we are going to enlarge the patio. It's a bit small with a few people, chairs and a table out. So from the area that is going to be buried, we've dug out several plants which have moved to the railway.

These include "Lady's Mantle", "Purple Rock Cress" and "Water Avens". I also dug out some "Forget-me-not" from the edge of the lawn. We still need to shop for more plants, but I also have some wildflower seeds that I will spread around the back edge of the embankment.

[ArmyAirForce]

For those who are green fingered, here's what we have planted so far.

It's so close to being finished in this area. I'm looking forwards to seeing the rest planted, though it is going to look a little thin for a while until the plants get established and spread out.

[ArmyAirForce]

April 13th
    
On the 13th, we had another push on the railway embankment. After dropping my daughter off to see some friends, Lynne and I continued to a garden centre and splashed out on more plants, compost and some small garden tools. By the time we got back home, it was lunch time, but after a quick bite to eat, we were out working at the railway.

The first job was to dig more sand and compost into the embankment, to break up the clay soil. With that done, the exciting bit, planting. We couldn't get all the plants I'd picked out two weeks ago, so had to get some alternatives, but it all worked out.

[ArmyAirForce]

It took a little rethinking of where some of the plants would go, because the replacements were the wrong colour or would spread further or not as far as planned. Obviously they need to grow and fill out the area properly, so it still looks a bit thin for now. The pictures below show the completed embankment, one with all the plants identified.

All around the back of the planted area, we sowed wildflower seeds, to form a backdrop to the rest. We also bought five more spreading plants, to continue the plants along the hawthorn hedge, up to the garage. That's thirty four along seventy feet of hedge.

[ArmyAirForce]

We are still looking for some more Purple Rock Cress, to make a more solid boundary between the plants and the ballast. Other than that, for now, the planting is done and we need to wait and let everything grow and spread. Next year, we can take another look and see if anything died and whether there are still spaces that could do with filling.

There's one chair screw left to fit on the rear sleeper - the "Golden Spike" to complete the railway. I need to drill the sleeper for this, then the family will all take turns on the two feet stilson wrench, to complete the railway! I'm looking forwards to the Summer, leaning on my crossing gate, with a cold drink in my hand, watching the buzzy things going mental around all the flowers!!

[ArmyAirForce]

April 19th

The 19th was productive in the garden and in the observatory. A clear day also resulted in a clear night!

Funny how life is circular. When the old Victorian school was knocked down in 1969, to make way for our house, the site was around one acre, with the bungalow only taking up a small part of that plot. The rest of the land was used as a plant nursery.

Here we are in 2024, with plant production now going into industrial levels to fill the garden. We've multiple seed trays on the go, which have started to come to life in the last week. Having already spent around £200 on plants for the railway and path, I'm now looking for a cheaper source to fill in gaps.

The postman also brought another box of twelve Purple Rock Cress plants. Right now, they are tiny, but they will go along the edge of the railway to complete a solid line of these plants as a barrier between the ballast and embankment. With night time frosts still possible, I've potted them for now, until we can be sure the frosts are behind us. Lynne was fretting a couple of nights ago, that we might loose £200 of plants to a late frost!

In the picture below, I've got three pots of Forget-me-nots, pulled from the lawn and the grass separated from them. To their right, in the Flash box, are three pots of wildflower seeds. I think the seeds are tiny, so the box has a white powder mixed in to help to show where they've been spread. With it being still cold outside, I planted some in pots, kept indoors, to see if anything would emerge from the powder mix!

The remaining two pictures are Candy Tuft seedlings, which were big enough to separate from the seed trays and plant in their own pots. The Slushy pots, complete with lids, make quite nice mini greenhouses which also helps to keep the moisture in. The open top still allows fresh CO2 in, for the leaves to breathe. I'm interested to know if those with lids grow faster or slower than the others.

Edited April 23 by ArmyAirForce

[ArmyAirForce]

Here's a six pane mosaic of the Moon, shot at 1 metre focal length on the 200PDS with the 742nm IR filter and ASI178MM camera. I'd also had the observatory open earlier in the day to grab a quick white light Sun.

After the mosaic, I tried the x3 televue barlow, as the seeing appeared to be fairly good. I did some close ups with the x3, before switching to the TAL x2 as seeing started to deteriorate.

x2

[ArmyAirForce]

April 20th & 21st

The clear Friday night developed into a clear, calm and dry weekend, so it was time to get back to the wall. I've built walls before at the Washington house. Made from modern metric bricks, they turned out so neat, that some people thought the pictures were CGI of what I planned to build. This wall isn't like that at all.

The bricks are Victorian, dating from around 1860, appear hand made. Some are huge, around four and a half to five inches wide in places and none are exactly the same size, nor have flat faces. Some are bulged, some are con-caved, the ends aren't necessarily square and the proportions aren't right for the length of one brick, to work with the width of two bricks for the pillar.

All of this is made laying them a real challenge. Straight and level needs to be an average, as a small level won't sit flat on any of the bricks! Several bricks broke or crumbled during dismantling of the wall, so multiple half bricks were used on the far side, below ground level. They are all being reused from the original wall, so all are stained from age or lime mortar. I may try cleaning them once the wall is finished.

By the end of Saturday, I had four courses added on the front and two on the back.

My back really didn't want me to go back out on Sunday, but I couldn't waste another good weather day. Another two courses were added to the front, with four at the back, though every fourth layer has the bricks laid across the wall, to tie the two sides together. It was all covered in plastic by the end of the day, as the rain came back that evening and has continued on and off to today. Lynne also gave the lawn its first cut of the year. It was still a bit wet, but had got so long, it took her two hours.

I'm hoping a rotary wire brush or grinder can clean off the bricks a bit. A quick test seemed to suggest that would work, but they've got 150 years of weathering to catch up on to match the rest of the wall - which also needs pointing. Yet another job!

It was nice to get back out in both the garden and observatory.

Edited April 23 by ArmyAirForce

[Alan White]

Looks like a lot of hard work has gone on since the initial build,
looking rather smart and very Garden Makeover too.

Sorry about your BMW wall interaction, cars hitting your property is never much fun.
But your rebuild looks up to your usual high standard 👍

[ArmyAirForce]

1 minute ago, Alan White said:

But your rebuild looks up to your usual high standard 👍

Thankfully, the car owner's insurance covered a builder to do the wall, saving me a lot of effort.

[ArmyAirForce]

I'm going to wrap this thread up with a couple more posts, now that all the main planned work in the garden is pretty much complete. The rebuilding of the garden wall was more or less finished by June 1st. There weren't enough original capping stones to finish the wall, so I may well make a mould and cast one for the top and pillar. Since it was already half way through the year, with poor weather slowing things up, I've left this to push other projects on before Autumn suddenly appears!

In early May, we added another smaller planter near the observatory. Lynne decided she wanted another planter just for the strawberries, as the potato crop was creeping into the strawberry area. There was just enough room for a 3 feet square planter, but we had to get a 3 x 6 ft planter and just assemble it as a 3 foot square.

The slates were cleared on the 5th of May, while the planter arrived a few days later. It was assembled on the 9th, lined and filled with the leftover lawn topsoil and compost. The bird netting frame was a really tight fit, but did go in without alterations.

[ArmyAirForce]

Due to the poor weather and really dull start to the first half of the year, I bought four LED grow lights to help the seedlings develop. I was growing lots of Thyme for ground cover behind the garage and between the Hawthorn border plants. There was also more rock cress and a few other things.

By mid May, I'd also added two cold frames to the patio outside the workshop, to move the plants on to. My workshop window sill was getting a bit full and the seedlings would need hardening off before planting outside.

[ArmyAirForce]

June 4th & 5th

On the 4th, I began digging out and clearing plants from the location of the patio extension. Some of the tall plants, which I think are Astrantia Major 'White Giant', would be moved to the back of the railway embankment.

On the 5th, with most of the plants out of the way, I began to mark out the foundations for the low wall that would be needed to support the edge of the new patio and retain the hardcore. Foundation digging began after that.

[ArmyAirForce]

June 18th ~ July 11th

Between mid June and Mid July, I got the patio foundation filled with hardcore, followed by concrete. I planned to build a small box of bricks around the circular drain cover which would support a removable slab.

Two layers of bricks followed, to support the edge of the patio and to contain the hardcore which would support the slabs. When the brickwork had set, I started breaking up old bricks to back fill the patio area. These were all the broken and half bricks left over from the garden side and front walls.

Several paving slabs were pulled up from the side path, as they matched the existing patio. I'll get some replacements for here as close a match as I can, but being around the side of the house, it rarely gets used, except for access to weed the border.

A layer of mortar was added over the top and the paving laid on top. The following day, I pointed between all the slabs.

With the patio done, the new borders had some unwanted plants dug out and the earth level raised to just below the new patio height. I put some 12 inch square stepping stones along the yew hedge, to give access for trimming. Between and around the stones, I planted Thyme as ground cover. Canterbury Bells and Silver Dust were planted up to the patio edge.

In the lower border, I added more stepping stones down the middle, to give better access for weeding. Thyme was again planted around the stones, with Daisy Pomponettes along each side. These may not be permanent, but will give some colour and greenery for this year. Some of the other existing plants were moved around and a space left for an evergreen shrub, yet to be purchased.

Well, that's about it. The whole landscaping project all began to make space for the observatory, but that was only a small part of the work needed. I'll be replacing the side path shortly and putting a two or three course brick wall behind the garage, to support the earth where it rises next to the path I put in. Other than that, the garden is now pretty much just ongoing maintenance. It's taken three and a half years to get here, but I'm just about at a point where I can sit back and enjoy the observatory, railway and patio without any hard work!

Hope you enjoyed the journey.

[AstroNebulee]

Thank you for a wonderful, interesting and totally enthralling thread. I've enjoyed it thoroughly. Congratulations on all your hard work and commitment throughout the total building project from the observatory through to the garden projects. 

I hope you will now get time to enjoy the fruits of your labour with the obsy and garden. 

Clear skies and healthy plants. 

Lee 

[andy fearn]

21 hours ago, ArmyAirForce said:

June 18th ~ July 11th

Between mid June and Mid July, I got the patio foundation filled with hardcore, followed by concrete. I planned to build a small box of bricks around the circular drain cover which would support a removable slab.

Two layers of bricks followed, to support the edge of the patio and to contain the hardcore which would support the slabs. When the brickwork had set, I started breaking up old bricks to back fill the patio area. These were all the broken and half bricks left over from the garden side and front walls.

Several paving slabs were pulled up from the side path, as they matched the existing patio. I'll get some replacements for here as close a match as I can, but being around the side of the house, it rarely gets used, except for access to weed the border.

A layer of mortar was added over the top and the paving laid on top. The following day, I pointed between all the slabs.

With the patio done, the new borders had some unwanted plants dug out and the earth level raised to just below the new patio height. I put some 12 inch square stepping stones along the yew hedge, to give access for trimming. Between and around the stones, I planted Thyme as ground cover. Canterbury Bells and Silver Dust were planted up to the patio edge.

In the lower border, I added more stepping stones down the middle, to give better access for weeding. Thyme was again planted around the stones, with Daisy Pomponettes along each side. These may not be permanent, but will give some colour and greenery for this year. Some of the other existing plants were moved around and a space left for an evergreen shrub, yet to be purchased.

Well, that's about it. The whole landscaping project all began to make space for the observatory, but that was only a small part of the work needed. I'll be replacing the side path shortly and putting a two or three course brick wall behind the garage, to support the earth where it rises next to the path I put in. Other than that, the garden is now pretty much just ongoing maintenance. It's taken three and a half years to get here, but I'm just about at a point where I can sit back and enjoy the observatory, railway and patio without any hard work!

Hope you enjoyed the journey.

wow. Three and a half years, that has gone quick. You're hard work has certainly paid off and show's. Time to sit back and enjoy with the family. All the best.

[RichM63]

A very enjoyable and interesting read.

Great job, you should be proud of the results.

Rich

[bwj]

This had been a great thread. Thank you!

Clear skies!

[M40]

As others have said, been great following your progress, amazing results, thanks for posting 👌