2001 Monolith build

[alan molstad]

Due to the rain that is about to hit here soon, I decided the best use of my time would be to use a bit of drywall patch and fill-in any holes and scratches so that later they can be sanded down smooth.

with this done, I took this last photo and then covered the monolith under a tarp.

This might be the last Im going to see the monolith for a few days...

 

[alan molstad]

all it knows how to do this spring so far is rain on my monolith building plans....

 

[greenmachines]

View attachment 1814712
all it knows how to do this spring so far is rain on my monolith building plans....

It was 43 here in midday today. About 20 degrees below average for our town. The chances of frost tonight are very high. Spring is postponed until further notice.

 

[alan molstad]

The rained stopped for a few hours, and so I went out to check on the tarp over the monolith.
and it has a hole in the tarp i did not see.
and the whole monolith is wet!

so rather than being able to sand everything, I can not sand anything.

Back to square 1

i took the tarp off and push the pools of water off the monolith.
There will be no sun today...so i doubt anything will be dry enough later to deal with.

But I will check in 2 hours...

 

[alan molstad]

sanding is finished ...
Now to risk mixing the epoxy?

 

[alan molstad]

No guts, no glory!
i decided that no matter the forecast, I want to get the first coat of epoxy on the monolith today!

 

[alan molstad]

More rain....

I covered the monolith again in a brand new tarp, and we will have to just sit for now.

 

[alan molstad]

Spring of 2024.....the year it just would not stop raining and give Alan a break.

I started this project after I had listened to all the weather experts talking about "Drought" all winter long.
They were all sure we would be looking at dry fields and dead lawns.
I listened and felt it would be a perfect year to do this type of art project.
I knew I really only needed a couple of weeks of dry hot spring weather to really finish up this project and get it cemented into the ground.

well.....they were all wrong.

and the ground is mush.
We have not seen the sun in so long.
And the grass is growing so fast I may have to stop all my projects just to stay ahead of the lawn mowing.

 

[Leinads]

Wait. What if you’re not Alan, but someone just posing as him? Your mission: install a top-secret weather-manipulation antenna, brilliantly disguised as garden sculpture. Monolith? Yeah, right.

This break gives you some extra time to plan + prep for the surrounding area landscaping you have ideas about. The walk around the monolith will be incredible!

 

[greenmachines]

I was born on Feb 2 so I take my winter weather pretty personal as a Groundhog representative. I said this year wouldn't be an early spring but would not look like an extended winter. I predicted random bouts of winter mixed in with short appearances of spring. So far, I am feeling pretty much confirmed. But, being from Oregon, we say that about every one of the 12 months of the year so I am just reporting the most likely scenario and then claiming I totally saw it coming.

 

[caross]

You should paint it with Vantablack!

Or, in truth (screw that dude) and go with the reasonably affordable BLK 3.0.

 

[joberg]

View attachment 1815429
Spring of 2024.....the year it just would not stop raining and give Alan a break.

I started this project after I had listened to all the weather experts talking about "Drought" all winter long.
They were all sure we would be looking at dry fields and dead lawns.
I listened and felt it would be a perfect year to do this type of art project.
I knew I really only needed a couple of weeks of dry hot spring weather to really finish up this project and get it cemented into the ground.

well.....they were all wrong.

and the ground is mush.
We have not seen the sun in so long.
And the grass is growing so fast I may have to stop all my projects just to stay ahead of the lawn mowing.

Well, as you know, climate & meteorology are "accurate" sciences

 

[alan molstad]

UPDATE!

I got up around 9:30 this morning, (Remember I'm retired so 9:30 is normal for me)
And I dressed in my standard rain gear and went outside to check on the Monolith.

As I was walking to the back part of my yard I could not help but notice a strange light in the sky?
At first I thought it must be a low flying airplane, but it was very different.....one could almost say it was an "unfamiliar luminescence" in the sky that seemed to be almost fixed in the air?

I pulled out my phone and ran a quick GOOGLE search to try to identify what i was seeing?

it turns out to be something that others in the distant past used to call "The Sun"?
I had my doubts about that google listing, so I asked my wife what was that thing I was observing in the Eastern sky?

all I got from her was a odd look.....?

But that was not the only thing I noticed that was different today, for as I walked through the woods to the Monolith site I also noticed on the ground a very strange dark form.
It seemed to copy every move I made....how is that possible

?I will have to google that phenomena later

 

[alan molstad]

I sanded the first coat of Epoxy this morning.
I checked and , yes yet another huge batch of rain is due and the nice weather will only allow me enough time to address a few other issues today before I have to wrap the tarps over everything and strap it down due to the expected higher winds on the way.


But it was nice to get something done today for a change.

i checked the trench where I will be setting the Monolith and there are a few inches of water to deal with if I try to continue getting that ready.

 

[alan molstad]

I decided that today I had enough time before the rain returns to work on the top of the monolith.

I always knew that I needed to have some type of a small waterproof overhang.
I looked around in my junk pile, (All retired old men have a junk pile to dig through, its required to own one when you get over 60 )
I found the thick plastic that was at one time our basement shower stall.

I cut it to shape , allowing for a 3/4 "inch overhang all the way around and screwed it to the top of the monolith

 

[alan molstad]

I filled the gaps all the way around with bathroom tub stuff, because...why not?

 

[alan molstad]

a little black primer added for effect...

 

[alan molstad]

we will let everything dry the rest of the afternoon, then once again drag the tarps into position and strap them down...

Now the reason I went with an overhang is that I just wanted to try to not have water running down the front of the monolith.
I was warned by people that have built something like this project that water off the top will start to discolor the sides when it rains.
My hope is that the overhang will allow water to drip just a hair away from the sides.

Now will an overhang be noticed?...yes, that is likely...but I hope not too much that it will distract the eye.

 

[alan molstad]

I have one more coat to add to this side, then I need to do both side ends...

Then it will be time to get some cement and start thinking about how Im going to drag this over to the spot and tip it up?

 

[greenmachines]

UPDATE!

I got up around 9:30 this morning, (Remember I'm retired so 9:30 is normal for me)
And I dressed in my standard rain gear and went outside to check on the Monolith.

As I was walking to the back part of my yard I could not help but notice a strange light in the sky?
At first I thought it must be a low flying airplane, but it was very different.....one could almost say it was an "unfamiliar luminescence" in the sky that seemed to be almost fixed in the air?

I pulled out my phone and ran a quick GOOGLE search to try to identify what i was seeing?

it turns out to be something that others in the distant past used to call "The Sun"?
I had my doubts about that google listing, so I asked my wife what was that thing I was observing in the Eastern sky?

all I got from her was a odd look.....?

But that was not the only thing I noticed that was different today, for as I walked through the woods to the Monolith site I also noticed on the ground a very strange dark form.
It seemed to copy every move I made....how is that possibleView attachment 1815551?I will have to google that phenomena later

This is your inner groundhog telling you something needs checking. I can confirm that most experienced groudhogs really only care about contrast, not just shadow vs no shadow. If your shadow is a nice dark earth tone, brown, green, etc., compared to a similar lighter tone, we carry on. However, if the shadow is in stark contrast to pure white we go back inside. And then, of course, there is stepping outside only to get the feet cold in this white stuff. Cold feet are definitely a good sign to just refuse to do whatever was planned. History has confused this with being afraid of one's shadow but in reality we look down to figure out why our feet are suddenly very cold. It looks like we just noticed our shadow but no, we are, in fact, getting cold feet.