Seemed Like Such A Simple Project

   / Seemed Like Such A Simple Project #1  

Harv

Elite Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2000
Messages
3,371
Location
California - S.F. East Bay & Sierra foothills
Tractor
Kubota L2500DT Standard Transmission
Ever have one of those "one hour" projects that eats up your whole weekend?
crazy.gif


My 9-year old daughter is very big on tetherball at school, so I figured this was my chance to be a hero and whip up a tetherball court of her very own up at the property. Heck, we have 42 acres -- I figure we could find a 20-foot circle to dedicate to the cause. Dig a hole, plant a pole and we're done, right? I'm too insecure to use concrete, but I figure if I stick it 4 feet into the ground and pack it tight, the pole should be stable enough.

Well, first off, I never realized that even the flat parts of our property have a bit of a slope to 'em. That's no good for a tetherball court, so before I dig the hole, I'd better do a little dirt moving. Oh boy!!! Seat time!
smile.gif
I have a lot of other chores to do, but this shouldn't delay things by more than an hour or two, so I jump on my 'Bota and started to do a little leveling (see attachment).
 

Attachments

  • 33-130113-LevelingDirt.jpg
    33-130113-LevelingDirt.jpg
    131.7 KB · Views: 659
   / Seemed Like Such A Simple Project
  • Thread Starter
#2  
Hmmm... /w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif Leveling a patch of ground is trickier than I thought, especially since the tractor is riding on the same slope I'm trying to level, but it doesn't have to be exact, so eyeballing will be good enough. At least the dirt is just right for digging. The rains softened it up, and it hasn't baked solid yet. Still have those ever present stupid rocks that keep turning up and ruining my work, but I just keep jumping off and clearing them away by hand as needed. The roots were just as annoying, but most of them are small enough that I could probably chop them off with the hand shovel I brought out to the site.

Now, where did I put that shovel, and for that matter, where's the posthole digger? Let's see... I started scraping dirt last night, then put everything away... put the hand tools in the loader bucket for transport, so... they should still be in the bucket! Uh-oh... /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif

Less than 5 minutes of digging through the spoils with my gloves, and, well... the attached picture tells the story. /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif
 

Attachments

  • 33-130114-BuriedTools.jpg
    33-130114-BuriedTools.jpg
    132.3 KB · Views: 582
   / Seemed Like Such A Simple Project
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Okay, so it's not perfectly level, but time's a-wastin' and it's probably good enough. I've prepared a 20' x 20' square, so I find the center point and have at it with the posthole digger. Stupid rocks slow me down, but I'm able to work my way through them with my 25-lb pry/hot/pinch/Johnson/peeler/rock bar (or whatever we decided to call it).

Then it happened. Barely a foot down and I hit a rock that I couldn't break or pry out of the way, so I had to start widening the hole to find a way around it or, better still, get a purchase on it so's I could get it out of the hole. The attached picture shows the first actual sighting of the little bugger.

Stupid rock! /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif
 

Attachments

  • 33-130115-Rock1.jpg
    33-130115-Rock1.jpg
    49.4 KB · Views: 526
   / Seemed Like Such A Simple Project
  • Thread Starter
#4  
Time for lunch. Holy cow!!! I was supposed to be done with this and have the weeds sprayed by now! Well, I'm almost done. I can catch up on the other chores soon.

During lunch I think about the best way to expedite this thing, so I decided that I could probably use the tractor to dig a hole large enough to free that stupid rock, and then replace the dirt quickly enough. After all, I moved a small mountain of dirt already in just a couple of hours.

The battle is on!!! (see attachment)
 

Attachments

  • 33-130116-RockBattle.jpg
    33-130116-RockBattle.jpg
    127.5 KB · Views: 556
   / Seemed Like Such A Simple Project #5  
Holy crap Batman

How the hell did you bury your post hole digger??

Kapow.....

I bet that's one of those "events" that you wish no-one ever hears about,but good old Harv, posts it on the net /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Good to see I am not the only one to cockup something serious.

Hey what game is your daughter into this week? - I bet tetherball is old hat and now you'll have to build a basketball court, or better still, a diving pool /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Cheers Harv !!!! /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif
 
   / Seemed Like Such A Simple Project
  • Thread Starter
#6  
The tractor digging, plus more hand tool work exposed a little more of the stupid rock from hell. As you can see in this picture, it was time to re-think the whole thing (or should I say, "hole" thing).
 

Attachments

  • 33-130120-Rock2.jpg
    33-130120-Rock2.jpg
    71.2 KB · Views: 502
   / Seemed Like Such A Simple Project
  • Thread Starter
#7  
Okay, so I'll do the other chores next trip, but I can't leave without seeing my daughter's happy face as she plays tetherball on her very own court.

Swallowing what's left of my pride, I admit defeat to the stupid rock and try sinking the hole at a different location altogether. It's not quite level and I'll have to move a few things, like my gravel pile, but this just became top priority. Totally arm weary, I manage to dig, chop, pry, hack my way down 36 inches before I hit another one of those over-sized stupid rocks. This picture shows the vicinity of the new hole relative to the original project.

Dang!!! Time is up! Gotta put everything away, pack the car and head for home because of another engagement I have that evening (oh, my aching back). My daughter lets me off the hook by sympathizing about how hard I tried, but I hung my head in shame anyway.

I now have two weeks to decide what to do. I will probably hack a foot off the pole and use the 36" hole, but I can't decide if I should give in and pour concrete. Makes it slightly more permanent, but certainly would be sturdy.
 

Attachments

  • 33-130121-SecondHole.jpg
    33-130121-SecondHole.jpg
    110.9 KB · Views: 457
   / Seemed Like Such A Simple Project
  • Thread Starter
#8  
The attached picture was taken 3 hours later and 120 miles away. Kinda made me feel better about the whole thing.
wink.gif
 

Attachments

  • 33-130122-DaddyDaughter.jpg
    33-130122-DaddyDaughter.jpg
    23.9 KB · Views: 512
   / Seemed Like Such A Simple Project #9  
<font color=blue>...Dang!!! Time is up! Gotta put everything away, pack the car and head for home...</font color=blue>

/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif
Harv,

You are funny... If you didn't have to go home so soon... I'd expect about 5 or 6 more excavations in your yard to finally get it right... /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

I must admit... you're a persistent guy... and from the smile on your daughter's face... a great Dad... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

18-35197-JD5205JFMsignaturelogo.JPG
 
   / Seemed Like Such A Simple Project #10  
Looks like you have nice weekend and all turn out well.

I'm go to put up a flag pole and I live in a granite area..would you be interested. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif
 
 
Top