Trailer Pad update -
Went to the property Thursday afternoon, and after playing in Toronto traffic finally arrived in the dark after a 7 hour trip
(it should only take 4.5 hrs

)
Forecast for Friday was supposed to be a mix of sun and clouds with rain starting in the wee hours of Saturday morning and continuing for the rest of the weekend. Good enough to try and squeeze in a solid day's work, even if the rain started early...
The mosquitoes/blackflies weren't too bad, but the No See Ums just wouldn't take no for an answer, and it didn't seem like the bug spray was stopping them at all... after the second one flew into my eyes it was back to old fashioned protective measures
Last post had the trailer pad form levelled up and waiting for more gravel.
Started at 7:30 doing the bucket thing - Eight 5 gallon pails filled with gravel and hefted into the trailer for the trip up the hill. - It's slow, but manageable when you are working by yourself and gives the opportunity to pick out all the larger stones from the pile before filling the buckets.
2nd load - neighbour Glen saw me shovelling and before he went out for the day came by to help with his Belarus tractor and scooped up a bucket full for the trailer - loads 3 thru 7 were back to using the buckets.
Finally had all the pit run gravel in place and ready for an inch or two of clean 3/4" crushed on top to make it look pretty
The red 644 loader started up ok after sitting for a few weeks... unforunately, it really needs some extra weight on the backend to be of any use. I grabbed 3 buckets of nice gravel, but was making so many little holes in the driveway spinning one of the back tires that I gave up and returned to wheelbarrow and shovel.
I'm going to exchange tires with my yellow 644 loader from the city and also add liquid ballast and some wheel weights before I take them up to the property and do the swap over, maybe try to hang some weights off the 3 point hitch too...
Rest of the gravel was wheelbarrow and shovel.
Finished pad, after driving the 644 and the Tacoma over it to try and settle the surface. I'll probably rent a plate compactor from a big box store to pack it down properly before parking the trailer on it.
It had been drizzling on and off all afternoon, shortly after I finished it really started to rain heavily and I retreated to the trailer for the night. Saturday morning was cold, grey and wet... and some of the trees are already starting to change colour

The forecast was for it to stay like wet all weekend, a good excuse to head home and come back next week when it was going to be sunny again.
This picture was for
because even though she was at home for this work trip I still managed to park the truck where there would have been a big puddle for her to walk through in the morning...
