Notes from Windward: #62

Construction Phase One - The View from the High Deck

As we get to laying down the planks which form the surface of the high deck, we're starting to get an idea of just how majestic the view is going to be. My mind's eye can already see the attackers surging across the battlefield towards the castle.

It's mid-December, and some days the work gets cut short by rain, and some days by snow. Standing high on the deck, I noticed that a dusting of snow helped to give perspective to the view, so I grabbed the camera and took a series of shots of the battlefield. If you hold your eyes just so, you can almost make out the army marching over the fields :-)

**Looking north**

The first shot was taken facing due north and shows the road that we currently use for entering the site. We're planning on having the new entrance ready by next spring, and the registration area will be at the base of the tall tree in the center of the shot.

**Looking north by northeast**

With the backhoe visible in the foreground, this shot helps provide some prospective as to just how big the battlefield is.

**Looking northeast**

Rotating further to the east, you can see the area where the new entrance connects with the county road, just to the left of the tall tree. The bit of horizontal white at the right had part of the shot is the county road.

**Looking east**

In this shot, which looks due east, you can see the county road more clearly. For perspective, it's a quarter mile away.

**Looking east by south east**

The battlefield continues to the southeast

**Looking southeast**

The large tree just to the right of center was dubbed "An Tree" by a former Baroness of Three Mountains, and the name stuck.

We're in the process of creating a definitive site map that will help people locate the permanent biffs, water sources, permanent campsites, etc. Rather than rely on intuition to sketch in the approximate locations, we're using global positioning coordinates plotted against a detailed satellite map of the site.

There are a number of different coordinate systems used by various agencies, so getting an exact match between the numbers we were getting on the ground, and the coordinate system used by the satellites wasn't trivial.

An Tree is one of a half dozen trees on site that have names, but it's the only one that's clearly and unambiguously visible from space. When Michelle entered the ground coordinates we'd taken for An Tree, and the computer generated an "X" right smack on top of the satellite picture of An Tree, it was time for a "happy dance."

**Looking south**

The pasture continues south to that small line of trees, a distance of almost 300 yards. Just beyond An Tree, there's a rise in the pasture which provides a visual screen separating the battlefield from the main parking area.

Well, I know that these shots offer only a poor presentation of the view from the castle's high deck, but until you can come and check out the view for yourself, it will just have to do :-)

Construction Phase Two - The High Deck --- Notes from Windward, Vol. 62