Vlog: preparatory work for an infrastructure project at the hut

Hello everyone, my name is Praasilos, also known as Pratt. In this video, I want to provide you with a status update on the hut project. I am at the back side of the hut where the stream is, and I will be doing some work because I need to gather some uh raw material. I need to gather some uh soil which I will use for some construction work, some infrastructure work that I'm doing around here. And then I will just show you a video of me doing some of that work. Uh let me switch to the rear camera first so that you can see a little bit how the spot is. So switching now I have to remain silent for a second and uh you see where I am here where I'm standing. Uh this is uh the back uh side and um it has been going well. Uh maybe you can hear the water flowing there. We can see it. It's right there. And all the infrastructure work I have done here to stabilize the soil, consolidate it. Actually, there was no soil here. So, I I did all that work. I have the stairs over there. You see this is Atlas over there. And I did all that and it's really stable this year. We got plenty of rainfall thus far. Maybe it will even rain today. I don't know if you can see it's all gray. Uh it will even rain. It's maybe there are a few raindrops now. Uh but anyway, it's really stable. And what I want to do is let's uh go let's walk up the stairs. Here is my good friend Atalas. A very good boy. [laughter] [gasps] Uh and uh what we are about to do today folks is I will uh place the selfie stick here and then I will be doing some workh over there. I had those uh planks uh positioned here and I moved them there to the side so I can do the work. Uh, and the idea is for me to chip away at the mountain here, uh, cut a piece of it over here so that I can use the soil. And just to show you the rest of the stream here, how it is. Uh, this is the part where I had broken the bedrock. You may have watched that video. Um, here is a part where I had lost, uh, soil. I had lost a piece of land to the floods and I reclaimed it. And now, of course, it doesn't look pretty because I still am piling stuff on top to consolidate the soil and to create these obstacles so that the water which is flowing here. Granted, it's not a lot of water now, but when it rains, we get a lot of water here. So, um the water goes away and doesn't come on this side. Okay, that's the idea. Okay. So, let me then go and we can start working right away. Here are my tools and I will be uh breaking down uh this and uh doing that sort of work. So, here is the stool and let me switch to my camera now and always I have to remain silent for a second there. So, let me adjust the selfie stick. So, this selfie stick has a tripod as well. So I open the legs there of the three uh legs and I have to do it carefully like this. And is this a good view? I don't even know. I didn't check beforehand. So hopefully it is a good view. And uh you can see me well. Yeah, there are a few raindrops I can notice. But we have to do the work anyway, folks. Uh because uh time is passing. Today is already the 1st of March. So uh first I will pick this up. Am I in the camera? Okay. So I will pick this up and then I will clear a little bit of this vegetation over here. So then I can use the other tool more easily because otherwise the other tool will get caught up in this vegetation and I don't want it. So we do that. Of course, I can also use this tool to uh tear down uh the mountain, but I will do both because the other one uh goes deeper into the soil and so it does a greater cut, a more incisive cut. So, that is nice. This is fennel, which is good in general, but I have a lot of it and I don't want it here. Let's see. Okay, very nice. That's good. And it's always uh some work for me. I always do work around here. So I never stay idle. If there is something to be done, I do it. Also, uh being aware that it's important for the long term. So it's not necessarily that this has to be done today, but it's important to do it. So of course I don't want to be postponing something all the time. So whenever I have time, whenever I am available, I start acting. So I don't like to dither and uh delay and postpone work. I always like to do something. So my motto in life really is if you can do something today, don't do it tomorrow. That's basically the idea. Let me put this here. Okay, let's bring the other tool now and we will use that. Now I need to put this to the side. Atlas is around here. He is going to help me, I guess. So let's do that. There is a a stone here which is good because I can use for the stairs. Ah, nice. A nice piece of stone here. So, I will just put that to the side and we get going. I enjoy doing this kind of work, manual labor because it is really easy mentally like it has no cognitive overload for me. It's really easy and thus I am fresh when I have to do mental work or any kind of knowledge work as they say. For me that's very nice. Plus, of course, it's a good exercise. It's a tough job. This is heavy. So, yeah, it's good. Otherwise, if you don't have the option to do something like this, well, you have to go to the gym and do the equivalent and then you get to pay for it. Whereas here, you don't pay anything. You just do the work and you benefit from the result. Of course. So there is that. Continuing break stuff down. Let's see. Of course, there are stones everywhere in here, so it's not that easy. Plus, it has been raining, so the soil in many parts is more moist and thus more sticky. and more heavy. Okay, very good. But I need a lot of soil. So, this is of course too little. Where is the other tool? Let's get the other two. And by the way, this I need to clear as well. So, let's do that very quickly. Okay. And here we need to clear this Okay. Out of here. Don't want this. Okay. Very good. Here. I had planted a willow, a willow tree, but it uh didn't make it from the droughts. Last year's drought was especially bad. So, it didn't make it. What can we do? There is no point in trying to do this again because here apparently it's not a good spot. So, we will see. Okay. More material that I can use. Of course, I will gather those more carefully later, but I need to clear some of that vegetation from the top. Nice. Okay. And these are the sort of projects I do frequently. Let me see if I can pull it out of the ground in one go. Now, now it's consolidated. So, I will have to break it. Let's do that. Here it is. My trusty pickaxe. So, let's tear it down. And it's a pity. It's a pity that it didn't make it because This was a nice spot for a willow. Sorry, not a willow. I keep saying willow. A popular tree. So, these are the really tall ones. And yeah. Oh, it was nice and deep in there. Yeah, it's a shame. What can we do? It's really a shame. What can we do though? You cannot argue with the drought. You cannot argue with the weather in general. You just take it for what it is and you accept it and you adapt. So that's what I'm doing. Let's see. Okay. Very good. I am gathering the raw material, the raw material that I need. Of course, there's still more. Here are some stairs that I had built. When I first got here, I didn't have access from there to here. And I did a circle. I went there. I circumvented it. But these stairs I don't need anymore. So now they can go, but not completely. Of course, at least the lower parts here, they can go. So there is that. And this soil is really useful for some infrastructure work. I will do further down on the other side of my house of the hut. So there is that. Okay, good. Let's take the other tool. Now leave that there. Have to cut this and throw it away. We don't need it here. Cutting down some of that vegetation. And here, this also is a tree I have planted. Again, it didn't make it. It's a pity. What can we do? Okay, let's cut here this. And now I will proceed to this part. There is a rosac anina over here. I don't plan to cut it down, but it will have to go a little bit further. And here are some cacti. Oh, that apparently grew roots. Oh, the cactus is such an amazing plant. You just throw it on the side, it grows roots because it's like, you know what? That's a nice little place you've got there. So, maybe they can both make it. This one has roots as well. So, yeah, I will actually leave them here and uh cover them with a little bit of soil. So that will be nice and we will see how they perform, how they make it. Now let's do this. A big chunk of land here, a lot of soil. Then of course I will use the hand cart and then shovel everything onto the hand cart and then move it where it needs to go. So yeah, I will be busy for several days with this project. But that's uh good. I enjoy it and ultimately it's not like I have anything else to do. Like if I don't have work on the computer, well, what am I supposed to do here? So that's also another way of looking at it. It's like keeping myself busy or it's a little bit like doing a hobby. So there is that there is some root there that has to go. Okay. Breaking it down. Oh, nice. Very nice. And what I was telling you, it's really sticky. So this part here off it goes. And that's all I want. If I do this, I'm good. So let's continue. There are roots in here of probably a wall an almond tree. Let's see. Okay, I have to bring the other tool because here it's dense. Let me bring the other tool and we will use that here. Okay. Yeah, this is a walnut uh sorry, an almond tree right here. There are plenty of almond trees all around here that are thriving under my ages. But of course, part of what I do is reshaping the land and of course reshaping where they go. So there is that. Okay, that's good. The route there has to go. And Off it goes. So there is that. Back to the other tool. So the pickaxe. Here it is. And we continue. H folks. We continue. Of course, I could use this to make different kinds of stairs, but I have no need for them. So here. Okay. Hey, very nice. Up it goes. And I keep tearing it down. I keep breaking these. They can go. That's nice. That's very good. Here this spot. Very good. So, I have now to take this other tool and start moving some of that soil to the side. So, then I can clear the spot there. and continue breaking it down. So there is all this work. It's a lot of work, but one step at a time. That's how it is. You have to be patient with this sort of thing. You cannot rush it. You cannot automate it. So you cannot work your way around the challenge. Let's cut this. Okay, up it go. Up. Up off up off it goes. Very good. And there are some good pieces of rock here that I can use for sure. So that's good. And of course there will be more. I saw more. Again, remove this. So, we don't want to have that in the soil so that it grows elsewhere. Okay, that's already a good pile of soil. But of course, there is much more there. Let's bring out the second pile. Uh, this this is thorny. What is this? There it is. Let's do this. Okay. Very good. Oh, there is a Oh, ouch. There is a large piece of rock there. Okay, let me take the pickaxe one second so that I can undermine it here. Okay, not that large, but not insignificant either. So, that's good. Okay, that was actually quite heavy. So, very nice. Let's keep taking the soil that we need and of course take moving all this soil away from here will take time. So there is that again. Good. Let's go. I don't know where are my other dogs. By the way, Atlas was here at some point. I saw Rau, but I haven't seen the puppies. So, they are playing somewhere. Good for them, of course. But maybe they will show up at some point. Let's see. Let's see. Okay, here I have to break it more. here. It's not broken. So, I will come with a pickaxe for that. So, that's why it's important to collect the soil on one side to see where you are. So, this here, let's clear it a little bit. That is a small stone relative to the others here. that goes. It is cold by the way. It's the first of March, but these days are really cold. So March is normally winter time for us here. Cyprus mountains. H not to say that it's as cold as North America or Eastern Europe, but it is getting quite cold. Uh Riser is there. I see him there. So that's good. Let's see. Another piece of rock. Put it there. And we are continuing, folks. The work continues a pace. Very nice. Very good. And I have to break this part now. And then I'm done. So you can see it over there. You can see the difference. I guess and another piece of rock up. So, let's see. Let's uh do this. Okay, here we are. So, this is a part that still needs to be broken. And then I am good. I can start gathering the soil. And then if there is anything more I need to break, I can do that as well. No problem. No stress. So, okay. Very nice. This part now here. Okay. Good. Rocks. Rocks. Rocks. Rocks. That's good. Okay. And I will need to clear this further. It's a little bit deeper. But I have to remove this and then do it. Okay. Nice. Okay. Up. Good. Good. Good. Good. So let's uh here. Okay, that's good. Let's now remove that piece of soil there as well. So here, of course, stepping on it consolidates it, but it's a softer anyway, so it's not a problem. I remove this now and I am good. Let's do that until we find the lower level where it needs to be broken further. I can see here is a spot. I can break that as well. No problem. No worries. Let's remove this as well. Okay. So, good. Okay, that's good. Of course, you can easily see how quickly you can actually create a different pl different uh layer there if you want. So, I have done that as well many times which is very nice. So, you go to the side of a of the mountain and then you create something like this which is flat and then you can plant on either side. So, let's See here. Okay. Yeah, this is hard. H hard terrain, but it's good. It's not too difficult to break. Okay. That's nice. Oh, what is this? Another good chunk of rock here. Very nice. Leave it there carefully. Let's Okay. Ah. Is there more rock here? No. Plenty of gravel here at this spot. Okay. Good. Okay. It's good, folks. So there is a small spot I need to break down here. But let me remove the soil first and then we continue. So here up. That's nice. Yeah. So of course that is uh plenty carts worth of uh soil. Very good work here. Very nice. And I will break that spot there. Here. Okay. So, that's good. Oh, nice. And this spot here, I have to break as well this. So, here. Where does it stop? So, okay. This is all soil. This is not need to be broken. Maybe there is a spot here or maybe I was just standing on it and it consolidated already. No, no, there is a spot there I need to break and a spot over here. So, yeah, that's uh good. Let's uh get to action. Let's do some work. So, starting from this spot, let's break it like this. Okay. Nice. Very nice. So, of course, I break it and then I take it. So, that's it here. Okay. Good. And this spot here. Okay. Very nice. Very nice. So, you see how it is. And then I need to clear this and I will continue. But I can call it a day. Now you got an idea of how this is. Let me hit that there. So, yeah. Very good. Very good. So thank you very much for your attention folks. I will close this video now and then I will continue with the work that I am doing. Take care and goodbye. Stop.

In this 30-minute video I show some of the work I am doing at the back side of my land. I need to collect soil for some infrastructure project. To do this, I must first tear down a small side of the mountain. Then I can collect the soil using the shovel and the handcart to move it where it needs to be. This is a small piece of a larger project that will keep me busy for several days. It is important to have all that done for the long-term viability of my stay here in my land. * * * Find all my publications on my website (philosophy, Emacs, general life issues, and more): https://protesilaos.com