iota sticks

Today, I pounded in a couple of "iota sticks" - so named, because every time you hit them with a sledgehammer, they go exactly 1 iota deeper. They have #6 bare copper ground wire fastened to them with clamps and the other end (the clean end) will be wired to the ground lug of the electric service panel in the house. (When iota sticks are used in this manner, people often use the slang expression "ground rod" when referring to them.)

filled in power trench

Today, we filled in most of the power trench.

The red plastic ribbon near the top of the trench warns that there is a buried electric line (in case anyone tries to dig where they shouldn't). The ribbon is not required when conduit is used, but it's a good idea anyway.

The fork toward the shop is a second conduit - a smaller 1" - for running signals (phone, intercom. network, whatever) between the house and the shop. It's currently empty and just stubbed out near the shop.

you know the end is getting closer when...

... when the coffee-maker you bought at the beginning of the project burns out.  (However, we're not so close to the end that we didn't have to buy another one!)

power trench is a go

We just got the ok to fill in the power trench (for a while there, I was concerned that I might not have a good reason to cover myself with mud again this weekend).