Work Day Report at the APO

The TAA is renovating our 46 year old observatory. We would like have our first public star party at the observatory on April 13th.  The observatory has not been used for ten years. The original purpose of the observatory and the TAA was to provide astronomy education for children and adults in our community. We need your financial support to save our observatory. Sign up for a full membership in the TAA. Your dues, $3.33 per month, $40.00 per year, pays for our insurance, property tax, electric bill, post office box, Astronomical League dues, web fees, and normal building maintenance. The more dues paying members we have, the more we will be able to do to restore the observatory. To all those that have already paid their dues, THANK YOU!

Saturday, February 23, 2013, we had our second work day at the Arthur Pursell Observatory (APO). I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate the dedication and hard work of these TAA members.

The first goal for the day, was to sand and scrape the floor.  The old carpet had been glued to the floor.  This job turned out to be “mind numbing”  as Kimber put it. It was very slow even with the machine. Very hard and dirty work. One thing we did not plan on was the noise level generated by the sanding disk rubbing on the concrete. It had to be about 120 db. Fortunately Dean had earplugs for us to use.

Butch & Don start the sanding process	Kimber learns how to use the floor sander
Dean shows Kimber the proper way to use the sander.

Our second project for the day was to put an old water spigot under ground in a box to prevent people from tripping on it. It has been an accident waiting to happen for years. The  galvanized pipe was very rusty and we were afraid that it might break when we tried to unscrew it. With luck on our side (and skill), we were able to unscrew the 46 year old pipe without breaking it. We replaced it with a new pipe and spigot and set it in the ground in a box. It looks very neat and clean.

Dean digs a bigger hole so that we can use a bigger wrench to remove the old pipe.

Before we started the third project we had lunch. It was great!  Jeanne made “home made soup” and grilled sandwiches. We had a great time eating and visiting with each other. This was the highlight of the day. Thanks Jeanne!

Our third project. Ten years ago the neighbor’s cow pushed down a section of metal siding that is used to block light from the nearby highway and neighbors homes. It has been laying on the ground just as it fell all these years. Dean and I put it back up and it looks great. I would like to have seen the reaction of the cow when she broke it. That metal siding makes a lot of noise when it falls.

This is what it looked like in December

This is what it looked like after the work day.

Project four. To help keep the weeds down this winter we let Dean put his horses on the observatory grounds. The horses did a great job, but they left a lot of #$%! (fertilizer) on the ground. Butch and Kimber picked up most it and piled it up for removal. We then started work on smoothing out and leveling the ground in the observing area. The Observing area is 157 feet long and 72 feet wide.

Butch using his upper body strength to hold the tractor blade down.	Jeanne watching Poco and Ranger. Ranger is pointing to a lizard on the observatory wall.

Project one, the floor sanding completed. Kimber and Don worked all Day on it. It still needs some work to clean it up completely.

We finished working about 4:30. Everyone was very tired! I hope you can see by these pictures that we worked hard and played hard.

Good work gang. Thanks for all you did. The place is starting to come together.