Instant Pond

[bindian]

...........and here is what I rented to help the Big RED Beast muck the pond. A Bobcat E42 mini excavator with a 30 inch ditching bucket. I wanted a larger ex, but this is the biggest Bobcat of Houston (Conroe branch) rents anymore. I gotta buy a 15,000-16,000 pound excavator for Big RED Beast Excavators!
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

So I dug out a deep channel around the island and dug both ends down to between 10-11 feet, where I hit water. I then cleaned up the slopes ASAP. I almost finished resloping the dam's water side this afternoon, when a severe thunderstorm chased me inside. I took the Mahindra way down the slope numerous times to get all the loose dirt. Wonder how much brake pads or shoes are left?
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

My last day off was Tuesday the 3rd. I wanted to get everything finish graded and rye grass seed out and harrowed under. As it turned out, we had thunder bumpers to the East, then North, the West of us, so I decided we needed to get our homemade silt fence up and all the rip rap, that we could spare from the small pond, in place. Now I need to high tail it to Weldingisfun's goat ranch, in the Hill Country, and get more white rock.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

Sooooooooo, I had the usual suspects in this endeavor.........Luke and Booger. Luke did manage to get a closeup of me also. Luke is scary with a camera. He starts taking photos as he walks out the back door and is taking photos as he is walking (Yes, they are blurry) and takes about 80-90 photos when I just want a handful. I'm lucky it is digital and doesn't use film!
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

Last night I bolted the cutting edge (from a KK Box Blade that I bought new a few years ago) to 1/4 inch steel plate 6 foot long. I have a "glove" like bracket for it to mount to my BH bucket's teeth, but I have been waiting on welding it to have the 10 inch wide steel plate bend to 35 degrees to match up with the upper cutting edge. My local welding shop fixed their press brake and can (now) bend 1/4 inch plate, but not 6 foot long, so I made the "moldboard" back mount out of two, 3 foot long pieces.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

I clamped the Grader Blade on for now between the deployed thumb and the bucket teeth. I had to keep bucket curl pressure on while grading, but it worked well. When it gets all welded, I'll have a clevis or chain hook welded on back of the bucket to keep the grader blade secured on the teeth.

After a few minutes of spasming with the angles of the dam, I got it working right and really fine finish graded and knocked off the square shoulder of the dam's crown. I then finished the backside of the dam and started packing down with tire tracks. You would think this takes a while with just the width of the tires doing the packing, but with two front tires, you can pack 6 feet in width, then move over another 6 foot because of the other side's tires.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

Here is the (almost) finished pond.........for today.
hugs, Brandi

 

[rustyshakelford]

Looks good. I'm renting a 31k lb hoe right now from tex star rental in magnolia. They are great and you can move a bunch of dirt. I'm finally getting around to my pad. It's been a long time coming. You'll have to come out sometime soon to check out the change! I'm working on a little pond myself. Will probably be bending your ear for some advice before to long.

Brett

 

[tony Cecil]

Have you ever figured out a water source? I too have been working on my embankment this past summer.....Yours is looking fine, but I have at least another years worth of work....Like you, I enjoy it....Tony

 

[bindian]

I got chased off the tractor a little after two this afternoon by a thunderstorm..........that was unforecast! Over an hour later and over 3 inches in the rain gage. Right now it is about 6 inches and holding from overflow.
hugs, Brandi