On Monday of this week, December 29, 2008, we finally broke ground on the new observatory. Having survived regulatory challenges, pump failures, and weather delays, we were able to break ground. Finally, the Tom Jungbluth’s vision for the observatory is taking shape.

A quick word on the well work. The new pump, a 3 horsepower, 20 gallon-per-minute, Berkeley submersible pump, is working just great. We learned that we have a 360 foot deep well, good water since only 2 sections of pipe needed replacing after 9 years, and a static water depth of 65 feet. Eric Haley of Heritage Well Service did a great job. I credit myself a bit for turning the water off at the house. I was more or less just planning for cold weather, but it turns out the water in the shower was on, so it was very good not to have water running for the better part of a week.

Back to construction.

Our contractor for the project is Greg Staten of Staten Construction Company. We met up on Monday morning and awaited Terry Phillips of Anza Valley Backhoe. Terry did the work on our driveway earlier this year and it was excellent work. He showed his skill again with the days work on the observatory. Here is Terry making one of the first cuts on the grade. We have begun! (Clicking on any picture will open the gallery in another window.)

The pad was quickly graded. We rotated the building slightly to minimize the need to set on fill and reduce the amount of grading. Here is the pad fully graded. There are two levels to it. The well equipment room and warm room are at one level, and the observatory is six inches higher.

Watching Terry at work is a joy. He moves that backhoe with great precision. He can eyeball the grade and get it just right. I swear he could pick up an egg with the shovel and not break it. Here he is digging out the footings.

Here is the site at the end of the first day of work. We are looking to the west, with the observatory in the foreground. The hole in the center of the near footings is for the pier base, 16″ thick and 4′ by 7′. I think that will hold two scopes quite well. The warm room is just back from the observatory, and the well equipment on the far end. The hole at the back on the right is for the pillar that will hold the back end of the roll-off roof rail.

We ended up with very little cut required and no fill at all. The ground is all decomposed granite and quite hard. I’ll post some photos of the cleaned up trenching soon. The steel for the foundation is supposed to arrive this weekend. I hope to get back out and check out the progress frequently, but I know work is going to be crazy, so there will be gaps in my overview of the project.

Here is a before shot, taken on Sunday, December 28.

And here is a similar view the next day.

With permits issued and the contractor hired, we are poised to start construction on the new observatory in Lake Riverside. Events, however, have been working against us.

Two weeks ago, I went out to do some basic maintenance, shut down the irrigation, and just make sure things were all right (no gophers!) after being away for several weeks. I was happy to find no new gopher holes. But after mowing the grass, I went in to wash my hands and there was no water pressure at the tap. I checked the water shut-off (it was on), power to the well (it was on), and my heart sank.

Getting three references for well service from Dennis McQueary, a plumber who has done excellent work for us, I reached Eric Haley of Heritage Well Service who was able to come over and look at the problem. He replaced the control box and we were up and running. Whew. He did note that the pump was drawing more amperage than it should. That meant it is getting old and may fail soon, in two weeks or two years, no way to tell.

We learned last night that it was two weeks.

At about 8:30 pm, I saw my wife at the sink and saw the water running slower and slower. Out to the pump, I checked the points that trip when the pressure gets low, they were fine. There was power, but resetting the control box did not do anything. Eric was good enough to take my call on a Friday night and came out this morning. The diagnosis was quick — the pump is dead, probably with worn out bearings. He’ll pull it on Monday, and I’ll get a bid on the fix at that time. The plan is to replace the pump on Wednesday, just in time for Christmas.

So how does this relate to the observatory? Well, I’ll tell you. Rain kept the excavation from starting on Monday 12/15. Then it snowed on Wednesday, dropping 8 inches on Anza. They were going to start on Friday, but Terry Phillips of Anza Valley Backhoe could not get his equipment out of the ice and snow.

The next target date was Monday, 12/22, but now that’s the day the well is set to be pulled. They can’t really work in the same area. The observatory will be next to the well, and will house the well equipment that is above ground now. This picture shows the proposed location outlined in green.

Clearly not safe to be pulling the well pump and digging a foundation right next to the work. I hope that construction will begin on 12/29.