Panzer Battalion

This post mights as well have been called the Battle of Kursk but Panzer Battalion works equally well...trust me the reason will become very evident.

Taking a last goodbye of the lawn I drew the outlines for the pool-to-be.

It's still just a bit of abstract art mostly resembling something from any of the C.S.I series but soon enough the heavy equipment will barge in and wreak havoc.

Abstract art

Monday morning and I witness through the livingroom window how two yellow monsters slowly make their way to the backyard. It's Mr. Mega Digger and his best friend Mr. Dumper.
No matter how much you mentally prepare for the havoc to come, it still is a shocker to see the size of these behemoths invade your garden.

Size matters

Rather about the time the shock had released its initial grip the dumper was fully loaded and took off with a roar leaving humungous scars in what little was left of the lawn.

By the time we came home from work the company doing the excavation had realised how soft the soil was due to last weeks abundant rain. So what's the remedy? To build a temporary paved highway right through our garden.

?

Highway to hell?

Slightly dazed by the sight I cautiously follow the path of destruction to the backyard to find a huge hole in the ground. It's amazing how big things turn out to be in reality. No matter how many times we've measured the outer form of the pool, reality strikes hard when you see the actual pit.

Unfortunately they also managed to just lightly brush the greenhouse completely wrecking one side. Lightweight aluminum frames were no match for a humungous dumper...:(

Another slight hiccup is the presence of solid bedrock sticking up just where the pool is to be.
Fortunately the rock is almost deep enough to be out of the way. A quick decision was made on Wednesday morning to fill up with gravel slightly more than planned. This means the pool will be somewhat higher up than anticipated thus it will no longer align with the existing deck.

There's no way in the world to get rid of the rock. Using explosives is just not economically viable considering all surrounding houses would need to be inspected for possible damage from the explosion. And that's not counting in the cost for the actual work to blow it up.
Besides we hope we won't need to lift the pool more than necessary. Jacking up the old deck to fit the pool ought not to be such a huge problem (famous last words)

Wednesday home from work to find that the pit is almost finished with respect to digging. Now it's a matter of laying drainage and filling up with gravel and rock flour.
Trust me drainage is really needed, it's currently a mud wrestling arena down there.

Though the pointy rock in the midst of the pool area really annoyed me so I gave it a shot to take off the worst of the sharp point. Some time later I managed to cut off the peak at the cost of the angle grinder which drew a last sigh and gave in. Apparently solid bedrock was a wee bit too much for it.
The last of the tip I had to manually remove using a mallet and sheer brute force.

Hopefully this marks the end to the destructive phase and we now could be able to start building up things again.




Title reference: Panzer Battalion/Primo Victoria/Sabaton