The gully to pond project

[ronjhall]

Remember my idea of building an underground shop?

Shop? Wheres the above ground shop.

 

[jinman]

Shop? Wheres the above ground shop.

STOP IT! You're killin' me.:ashamed::ashamed::ashamed::laughing:

 

[ronjhall]

The :dance1: made me do it.

 

[jinman]

The :dance1: made me do it.

Well, I do have a flat spot cleared off for two carports to put "stuff" under during the build. I also have all the junk cleared from behind the barn and the old 3-wheel utility vehicle pulled out. I've started clearing out the barn in preparation for tearing it down. Progress, albeit slow, is happening. YEA!:thumbsup:

Oh yes. . . I blew a hose going to my backhoe bucket today, so getting it replaced is priority one. These fittings are over twice the size of the one's on the TC. I don't know if I have tools. I may have to make a trip to Harbor Freight. Woohoo!

 

[dcyrilc]

Well, I do have a flat spot cleared off for two carports to put "stuff" under during the build. I also have all the junk cleared from behind the barn and the old 3-wheel utility vehicle pulled out. I've started clearing out the barn in preparation for tearing it down. Progress, albeit slow, is happening. YEA!:thumbsup:

Shouldn't you build either the carports or the shop before tearing down the barn???

 

[jinman]

Shouldn't you build either the carports or the shop before tearing down the barn???

Cyril, have you been eavesdropping on my discussions with my wife? Yes, putting up the carports is exactly what I'm doing to move materials out of the barn before tearing it down. The stuff I've been moving/disposing of lately is trash. It wasn't trash so much when I put it into the barn, but it has been there long enough to turn to trash. I also have several containers of old oil that I'm combining into a 50-gallon drum. What I'm going to put under the carports is a 3-wheel UTV, two old riding mowers (1 Oliver, 1 Gilson) some old metal lawn furniture that belonged to my parents, and some 80 year old wooden office furniture I need to sell or refurb. I have an old roll-around Mosler Safe that weighs probably 500 lb or more and needs to be refinished. Other stuff in the barn is more trash or a lot of electrical wire/boxes/conduit that will probably end up at the metal recyclers. If I can clean out the good stuff from the clutter and get it stashed with easy access, I'll be way ahead of the game. Then, I can tear down the old barn, prepare my site, and call the contractor to get my shop scheduled. All this while I dig and build two ponds...nuttin' to it but to do it.

 

[dcyrilc]

Cyril, have you been eavesdropping on my discussions with my wife? Yes, putting up the carports is exactly what I'm doing to move materials out of the barn before tearing it down. The stuff I've been moving/disposing of lately is trash. It wasn't trash so much when I put it into the barn, but it has been there long enough to turn to trash. I also have several containers of old oil that I'm combining into a 50-gallon drum. What I'm going to put under the carports is a 3-wheel UTV, two old riding mowers (1 Oliver, 1 Gilson) some old metal lawn furniture that belonged to my parents, and some 80 year old wooden office furniture I need to sell or refurb. I have an old roll-around Mosler Safe that weighs probably 500 lb or more and needs to be refinished. Other stuff in the barn is more trash or a lot of electrical wire/boxes/conduit that will probably end up at the metal recyclers. If I can clean out the good stuff from the clutter and get it stashed with easy access, I'll be way ahead of the game. Then, I can tear down the old barn, prepare my site, and call the contractor to get my shop scheduled. All this while I dig and build two ponds...nuttin' to it but to do it.

Nope, we've been talking on the side.:laughing:

You could always do a conversion like I've been doing.

 

[beppington]

Jim, will your ponds be seasonal, or do you expect full-time ponds? The area looks dry; Just wondering where the water's coming from? Spring(s)? Nearby creek?

 

[jinman]

Jim, will your ponds be seasonal, or do you expect full-time ponds? The area looks dry; Just wondering where the water's coming from? Spring(s)? Nearby creek?

That's a great question and one that I haven't done a very good job of explaining in this thread. I've posted some aerial pictures below to show the entire big picture of the project. The first is a picture of my property approximated with the red circle. It is situated just south of a soil conservation lake and water sheds to the lake across my property leaving gullies and valleys from eons of erosion. An area of approximately 50 acres sheds water across me to the lake.

The second picture shows a closeup of my homesite area before I built my house where the dark green grass is beneath the trees. It also shows the gullies really well because of shadows. The final picture shows how water will shed to the ponds I am now building. The blue lines/arrows show where I will terrace to produce directed flow to the ponds. The brown rectangles are the dams I will build to create ponds where the green outlined ovals are. The yellow rectangle is a future project at some later day.

So, the water is all runoff. I will capture most of the runoff in the springtime and the ponds will maintain water all through the dry season if they don't leak out. the reason the area looks very dry now is because all water sheds to the two ponds I own near the lake and drains into the lake and beyond. I just want to capture some of this water before it gets to the lower ponds and lakes. Because of the gullies, I think this area will be a natural great area for fishing. It will certainly not be good for anything else without major excavation and fill. I'd rather have the ponds anyhow. This is essentially my retirement project and may take years to complete.

 

[jinman]

Got my hose replaced yesterday, so I'm back in business. More dirt will be flyin' today.