{"id":2817,"date":"2012-08-02T13:22:11","date_gmt":"2012-08-02T17:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/?p=2817"},"modified":"2012-08-02T13:22:11","modified_gmt":"2012-08-02T17:22:11","slug":"enter-ye-the-trench-of-puns-and-abandon-all-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/2012\/08\/02\/enter-ye-the-trench-of-puns-and-abandon-all-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Enter ye the trench of puns, and abandon all hope"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>So, aligning with my project plan goal of only working on the hottest days available,\u00c2\u00a0last\u00c2\u00a0weekend fit the bill perfectly, with temperatures well into the ohmygods.\u00c2\u00a0 What a better weekend to do hours of backbreaking labour?\u00c2\u00a0 And why not <del>sucker<\/del>, er invite some friends over to help?\u00c2\u00a0 Well that&#8217;s what I did, and here&#8217;s how it all went down.<\/p>\n<p>First off, there was much measuring and string tying (something that I have already come to loathe, despite it being the most critical aspect of accuracy in the whole project).\u00c2\u00a0 Also some non-vampire related stake hammering.<\/p>\n<p>Then we placed the sonotubes and footings into the holes, located those suckers to the best of our ability, and then shoveled like morons for the next 8 hours or so.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0015.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"2823\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/2012\/08\/02\/enter-ye-the-trench-of-puns-and-abandon-all-hope\/dsc_0015\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0015.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"3008,2000\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;5.6&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;NIKON D40&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1342811811&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;19&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;250&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.008&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Men in the hole\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0015-1024x680.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-2823\" title=\"Men in the hole\" src=\"http:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0015-1024x680.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"584\" height=\"387\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0015-1024x680.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0015-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0015-451x300.jpg 451w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0022.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"2824\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/2012\/08\/02\/enter-ye-the-trench-of-puns-and-abandon-all-hope\/dsc_0022-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0022.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"3008,2000\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;4&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;NIKON D40&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1342817351&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;24&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;400&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0166666666667&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Loopy from the heat\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0022-1024x680.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-2824\" title=\"Loopy from the heat\" src=\"http:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0022-1024x680.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"584\" height=\"387\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0022-1024x680.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0022-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0022-451x300.jpg 451w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0029.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"2826\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/2012\/08\/02\/enter-ye-the-trench-of-puns-and-abandon-all-hope\/dsc_0029\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0029.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"2000,3008\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;4&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;NIKON D40&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1342817441&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;24&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;400&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0166666666667&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"A forest of tubes\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0029-680x1024.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-2826\" title=\"A forest of tubes\" src=\"http:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0029-680x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"584\" height=\"879\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0029-680x1024.jpg 680w, https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0029-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0029.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0010.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"2825\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/2012\/08\/02\/enter-ye-the-trench-of-puns-and-abandon-all-hope\/dsc_0010\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0010.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"3008,2000\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;5.6&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;NIKON D40&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1342811494&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;46&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;400&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.008&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Ben giving the hole a good wacking\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0010-1024x680.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-2825\" title=\"Ben giving the hole a good wacking\" src=\"http:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0010-1024x680.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"584\" height=\"387\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0010-1024x680.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0010-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0010-451x300.jpg 451w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>We paused from time to time to give the hole a solid Wacking.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_000069.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"2819\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/2012\/08\/02\/enter-ye-the-trench-of-puns-and-abandon-all-hope\/wp_000069\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_000069.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"3264,2448\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;2.2&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Nokia Lumia 900&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1342797442&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.00833333333333&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"The Wacker\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_000069-1024x768.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-2819\" title=\"The Wacker\" src=\"http:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_000069-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"584\" height=\"438\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_000069-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_000069-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_000069-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We may have gotten a little punchy as the hours wore on under the punishing sun.<\/p>\n<p>Finally we decided that hauling 30kg bags of concrete around was a lot more fun than shoveling untold hundreds of kgs of dirt, so we returned the Wacker (about which COUNTLESS puns were told) and obtained a much less exciting cement mixer and started the mixing of the 88 bags of concrete that I wisely had purchased, and had delivered to the driveway.\u00c2\u00a0 First off naturally, we had to move the 2640kg of concrete from the garage to the back yard, which was just fantastic.\u00c2\u00a0 Then came the mixing and the pouring and the tamping, all good fun.<\/p>\n<p>Some revelations that come from shoveling all weekend long:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>I will NEVER complain about my job again.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>That is all.<\/p>\n<p>Also, I actually love my job and never complain about it, but shoveling all day long makes me appreciate things like being cool and comfortable much more.<\/p>\n<p>So that&#8217;s the filling the hole part of the job.\u00c2\u00a0 Not something that you can just ask your friends to do, but I did anyway.\u00c2\u00a0 And they showed up and helped, and it was awesome.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks guys.<\/p>\n<p>Other deck posts (har har):<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/09\/vallentyne-deck-build\/\">The Plan<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/12\/digging-a-hole\/\">The Hole<\/a><br \/>\n<a title=\"Heat Ledger\" href=\"http:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/17\/heat-ledger\/\">The Ledger<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So, aligning with my project plan goal of only working on the hottest days available,\u00c2\u00a0last\u00c2\u00a0weekend fit the bill perfectly, with temperatures well into the ohmygods.\u00c2\u00a0 What a better weekend to do hours of backbreaking labour?\u00c2\u00a0 And why not sucker, er &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/2012\/08\/02\/enter-ye-the-trench-of-puns-and-abandon-all-hope\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[355],"tags":[359],"class_list":["post-2817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-improvements","tag-suggestive-puns-about-construction-projects-are-fun"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DSC_0022.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piGNU-Jr","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2817"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2827,"href":"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2817\/revisions\/2827"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}