Another weekend, another snake. I'm at 14 for the year. This was a very healthy, very fat, water moccasin that was 3 ft long.
Before the snake, I got some work done on my footings for the porch. The porch will be 16 feet by 24 feet. The boy dogs, Matsu and Raidan, like to hang out with me more then the girl dogs. We have no idea why.
View attachment 520593
I dug my footings and set the sonotubes 1 1/2 inches above the finished concrete height. It's important to me that the posts remain as dry as possible. Then I brought some dirt over to start back filling and bringing the dirt up. The backhoe bucket is great for this. I don't get a lot of dirt compared to the loader bucket, but I do get it really close to where I want it.
View attachment 520589
The holes are 3 feet deep and centered for the channel iron. That's five feet long. I want two feet above the concrete pad to anchor my cedar log posts.
View attachment 520590
Once I get the hole mostly full, I level my channel iron. The sonotube is off to the side of the hole, where I want the post to sit. For this, the channel iron is 14 feet from the house, and the post will be 14 to 15 feet from the house, allowing me a foot of overhang.
View attachment 520591