I got some lumber on the way home and made my frame for my concrete pillar. Turns out that the hole I dug yesterday was woefully inadequate. It was too small on all sides, and the soil on the far bank (from the picture) was piled in a loose hill that was throwing me off. But I fixed that mess.
You may notice that the plumb bob is not exactly pointing at the 18″ mark. It’s more like 17 and 5/8, but I can live with that. Plus, more of the yardstick is dug into the near bank than the far bank, so it’s probably a little closer to dead center than that damn 3/8″. I wouldn’t worry too much about it.
I found that digging the hole takes about 3 hours, 6 blisters, and 800 mg of Ibuprofen. But I did it, and I’m almost ready to position the form. But despite the banality of digging a hole, I have learned two things: I have learned that I should bring home my bumpcap from work, and I also found that it doesn’t really matter what your reasons are, but carting out wheelbarrow loads of dirt after sundown looks nefarious. It’s best to stop before it gets too late lest the neighbors call for backup before checking out my project. Lets see how long it takes before my neighbors “casually” bring up their gun collection.
That last paragraph made me laugh out loud! They are all going to think that you’ve buried me in the basement or something, since they haven’t seen me around. = ) You might need to come up with an explanation or an alibi!