We drove. We built. We got dirty. We got tired. We went home.

By now you would think that we'd know better... 

In our minds, a 3 day weekend means that we can get up to the property early, get organized, start in on projects and have a good 2.5 days of building.  But in reality... NOT SO MUCH.

We both got out of work early on Friday but rather than head up right away, we spent the afternoon getting all of our stuff loaded up.  (Any time we've tried to leave on Friday afternoons, we get bogged down with traffic. By the time we get there it's too late to get anything done AND we're too frustrated to sleep.)

We planned on going to bed early and getting up in the middle of the night to get there at first light. Neither of us slept well, so when 2AM came, we were awake, but not as rested as we'd have liked.  As anticipated, we got up there around 7:30 and got to IT.  IT being moving the dome.  (This it the 2nd time we've moved the dome, the 3rd time that we assembled it, tho the configuration has been different each time.  This version is about 7' tall at the center and 14' in diameter.)

Husband removed the panels while the Wife unloaded the van.  We partially dismantled the frame and moved it to it's newly dug, permanent, location.

Before:

Upper row in place:

Second row in place:

 

Row 3 in place:

Digging the air vent pipe for the fire pit using the Crovel that the Out-laws sent us for Christmas (Thanks Rick and Mary!):

Fire pit and pipe:

Facing South from the center of the Domestead:

Pipe buried, fire pit ready to burn:

Starting the base row and filling in the gaps:

Base row in place:

Second row up:

 Another view:

This is where we stopped for the day on Saturday.  We made a small fire and had a couple of beers.  We had hoped to get more done, but by this time we were completely exhausted.  (Being awake for 18+ hours plus driving plus hard labor in the sun will do that to you.) Overall, the temperature was good.  Not too hot, as the wind kept us cool, but despite putting on sunblock, we both got sunburned.  

Woke up sore on Sunday and we were both creaky and slow to start, but we got back to it after breakfast.

Panels added to top row:

Filling in the gaps:

Up close:

Done for the day:

More up close:

Husband miscounted the number of panels we had on-hand to completely cover the dome in this configuration, so it's not totally covered and we had to stop with some gaps on the back-side that will be filled in next trip.

As we went along, we both came to the conclusion that we wouldn't be able to get much more done with the remaining time and energy we had left.  Any other projects would have to be left undone and would have totally worn us down to the point of uselessness.  It was also apparent that we would be smarter to come back Sunday afternoon and beat traffic rather than stay out the night and head back in Monday morning.

As an aside, this was the first time we encountered ticks out there.  Husband had a couple of them crawling around on him, but luckily none had time to burrow in.  We also saw a few on the ground and we were constantly paranoid about them and we kept imagining they were all over us. :P

Other things of note - from the Wife!
- Cows.  We knew the cows were back in the range from our last trip up.  What we hadn't noticed then but was evident this time, was that all of those cows had been pregnant.  There were a bazillion baby (BABY!!) cows gamboling about. The babies are cute, but really dumb and way too curious for their own good.  The herds kept wandering past the Domestead and the babies kept trying to come over to see what we were.  This made both the mamas and us nervous.  (The mamas have horns, but we have firearms.)

- Cacti.  I repeat: f#@%$ing cacti!  Our knees and my butt haven't forgiven us yet for not watching where we were putting them.  Looking forward to the day when the entire Domestead is cleared of all vegetation except for whatever we decide to plant - in planters or the gardens! (Not surprisingly, that won't include cacti.)

- Amigurumi - or why I don't mind the 5 hour drive :)  I'm totally becoming a fan-girl of PlantJune's crochet animal patterns. They're complicated and challenging, but pretty fun too.  I spent most of the ride home making a 15" realistic green and blue iguana.  The Husband spent the drive home laughing at me as I was cussing and growling at the yarn, the pattern and the bumpy road.