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what the heavens have provided
Tuesday, October 30 2007
Today I built a large wooden structure shaped like a flattened capital E, with three tines made of full-length two by fours and a back made of a five foot two by four. I placed this (tines downward) over the face of my large homemade solar panel to serve as skids for the newest solar panel, allowing me to slide the new over the old without tearing holes in the plastic sheeting that serves as a transparent faceplate for the homemade panel. Without any help or special devices, I was able to lift the new eighty pound panel up and slide it down onto the skids, ready to be lowered onto the solar deck's southwest annex.
For that phase I enlisted Gretchen's help. She kept tension on a rope while I guided the panel into place.
I couldn't do much more with the panel once it was in the correct place, as I didn't have the necessary bits of hardware.
Later I dismantled all the structures that had helped get the unwieldy panel to its new location, including the horizontal beam for the pulley-based lift system and that enormous E I'd just finished using. It's much easier removing such support lumber from the deck than it is to carry it up there. I usually look out to see if there are any critters sunning themselves in the driveway and, if the coast is clear, I toss the pieces down, where they make loud construction-noise sounds as they impact the asphalt 25 feet below. Typically at that point one of the cats will run out into the danger zone to investigate what the heavens have provided, sometimes making it impossible to throw down anything further.
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