Fifty ways to get a bobcat stuck?

There must be fifty ways to get a bobcat sideways or stuck. So far (in the last few days) I've discovered three already. The first time I eventually got myself out with minimal damage. I called it a learning experience. The second time was a little more serious and required a bit of head scratching and some strong pulls with the pickup to straighten things out enough to get mobile again. Today we were filling in the area betwen the two fileds with sand, basically building a road just a teeny bit wider than the track of the bobcat. THings went pretty well until thr last load... then got a little sideways. This was a lot more serious!

BUt there is always a way out. The excavator dude who was putting in the septic field was only too happy to give me a pull with a sturdy length of chain and we were mobile again.

Life is all about learning and these days I'm learning plenty! :)

-grampa dan

One more place to dig

Today the fellow who is putting in the up to date septic system for our new house arrived to put in the field. This meant tearing out some fence was necessary along with 30 feet of lawn.  He used his exavator to dig two long holes for the dual fields which will be installed tomorrow. We put a bunch more sand into the foundation as well.

Once the field is in we'll shape the land a final time at a higher level than was there previously. The berm than tapers down fron the shop will gradually grow wider and higher until it reaches the house. When we bought the place nine years ago it was flat and boring. But we are changing that in  big way. I love it when a plan comes together!

-grampa dan

Sand, sand and more sand.

Getting the sand into the foundation is no simple task. Low telephone wires along the road restrict any dumping in the front yard. The soil in the front yard is also soft restricting access from that angle. The side yard to the east is less of an option because of many neighbor's trees. The back of the new house is only four feet away from the old one. No access there - especially from big machines. The only real access to the new house foundation is via the carport which is four feet higher than the current driveway which is to be raised as part the building process.

Gravel trucks are backing up our 14' wide driveway and dumping load after load after load of sand and gravel in many piles - up to 14 loads per day.

We then ferry these loads up the ramp into the new carport area and dump the sand over the wall into the foundation. Peter is running the bobcat for the most part although I've logged more than a few hours in the bucking machine.

Once the sand is over the wall it is my job to use our small front end loader to ferry the sand around the foundation to be levelled out and then packed into place - all 550 cubic yards or 55 truckloads. This is on top of the hundreds of yards of engineered gravel fill we put in the hole before the footings. 

I'm getting more than a little tired of moving plain old gravel and sand day after day but it is a job that needs doing. Every project we tackle has plenty of behind the scenes and plain work underneath. The house is just a little larger than most meaning the non-theme work will take a little longer than usual. Pretty soon we will get to the fun stuff!

-grampa dan