Creating a Lake

[jinman]

Hi Eddie, it's 4° in Sunset this morning; too darn cold for me! I think you and I both need a pair of those battery powered heated socks. I'd like a pair of heated gloves too. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif My Texas blood is much too thin for this kind of weather. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Tomorrow morning I am supposed to have my dozer guy show up with a track loader to clean out my pond. I hope he doesn't "freeze out" on me. It's supposed to get up to the normal 50° range tomorrow, so I have my fingers crossed.

I'm not missing a single one of your lake photos. I'm also learning from your dozer technique. One of these days I hope to drown some bait in that lake. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[ronjhall]

<font color="blue">Two sweatshirts a heavy jacket, face mask, sweat pants and gloves round out what I was wearing. </font>
Where is the hat? /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif I know how much protection you have up there. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif I have seen articles that claim 75% of the bodies heat is lost through the head. Wearing good head protection can help a lot in keeping the rest of the body warm. Another item that I have fought over the years is sweating feet. Which leads to cold feet soon after. Use some type of socks that wick the wet away from your feet. Here is a link to some suggestions on keeping warm. Click Here
If I and others can go out in below freezing temps on unprotected tractors. I am sure you should be able to do the same. Best way I have found to warm up after getting cold, is come inside and drink a warm cup of cinnamon apple cider.

 

[bmac]

Eddie,

Have you gotten tired of diggin' or has the weather slowed progress on the lake? Its been cold and wet here the past couple of days and you may very well have had this system before it got here. Other than Sunday, looks like we have some mild, dry days coming up next week.

 

[EddieWalker]

The holidays and cold weather slowed me down some, but the last couple of weeks it's been in the mid 70's everyday, so there's no excuse not to move some dirt.

This picture is along my shorline about where I started this way back when. When was that anyway? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

I cut the slots to build up the shorline and get the water depth as quick as possilble. Rumor has it that this will cut down on shorline weeds and alge. We'll see. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

This picture shows the layers of clay on the wall of one of the slots I dig clearing dirt.

The top layer is red clay, and it's the softest material and easiest material to dig. The next layer is several feet deep and is kind of a yellow clay with some sand mixed in to it. It's much harder than the red clay, but it still breaks up with some care not to cut too much at a time. The bottom layer is kind of hidden from the side walls crumbleing from the blade, but you can see the color on the bottom of the trench. It's the most miserable, dificult material I've come across. It's a dark gray to mid brown to dark brown. I've gone several feet through it in places and it all the same. It is super hard, dificult to cut and it has sectons that are just short of being rock. They will catch the blade and stop me dead in my tracks. It's a real battle cutting through it trying to get a full blade.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

Everythink kind of blurs together, but you can get an idea of how the shorline is looking here. The dozer is parked on the shorline road that I'm building up with the spoils from the hole I'm digging.

Eddie

 

[jinman]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( The dozer is parked on the shorline road that I'm building up with the spoils from the hole I'm digging.
)</font>

Eddie, your moisture level in the clay looks very low, but that may be deceiving. Are you able to compact any of the spoils, or is it mostly just loose clay/sand by the time you get it spread? On my pond, I'm going to try to cut the grade on the perimeter road to make water flow away from the edge of the pond to reduce resilting. I know you and I both are going to have a tough time watching what happens the first time we get a heavy rain.

Are your Mom and Dad still there? If they returned to California, how are they weathering the rains out there? Is their house there in any danger of flooding? I hope everything is going well with them. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Nat]

Eddie, how for are you from some of the wildfires? I hope you don't have any problems from them. The pond looks good.
Better get a few spaces put in, I'm about ready for a spring vacation. Vickie and I are thinking of NE TX, and SE OK. We saw some mighty pretty country around there. Later, Nat

 

[EddieWalker]

Jim,

The amazing quality of the clay is how much moisture it holds. We're 25 inchels below normal for rain, but the clay is still holding water.

There's two place in the picture of the slots that are so wet I loose traction. One of them is just scary. The ground is like a water bed. When I stand on it, it just moves like jello. That will be a shallow area, or maybe I'll dig it deaper with the backhoe when the rest of the lake is done.

The other spot is 5o to 60 feet to the right and it's just super slick. I hit it and my tracks spin. The only way to get the dirt form there was to push onto it, they come at it sideways and push it away. Very time consuming.

As for water content. When I spread the spoils with the dozer, it will compact after a few passes to the point I'm cutting it again. There's a lot of places that the dirt has that shiney finish after being cut.

One of the reasons for the shorline road is to create a barrier for the run off when it rains again. After all the dry weather, the ground is nothing but silt just waiting to end up in the bottom of my lake.

My parents went back home to California the first of Dec when things got cold around here. Their home is just above Jackson high enough up the mountains they can see the lights of Sacramento, but not so high that they get snow.

The last storm took off some shingles causing water damage in one of the bedrooms. The strong winds were more of a problem than all the rain in their area.

Thanks for asking,
Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

Nat,

Glad to hear you enjoyed your last vacation here so much you want to come back!!!

The major fires you're hearing about in the news are either a hundred miles West of Dallas, or way down South. We are having allot of fires ourselves, but nothing that would make the major news service. Mostly a couple acre grass fires and some old barns. The fire crews are all volunteers and are going 24/7, which is just amazing!!!! Makes me proud.

There is a fire ban in just about every county in the state. The fire marshal and his people are out looking for violators and citing them for anything that could cause a fire. BBQ's are high on their list.

I'm looking forward to seeing you in the spring if you can make it. As for pretty areas, Southeast OK is really hard to beat!!! Just amazing with the hardwoods, lakes and rock outcroppings in those mtns.

I do have one space ready for friends to come visit. It has a sewer hookup, water and 50/30 amp power. It's a backin gravel pad that's an extention of my driveway.

As a matter of fact, a member for this site will be here Saturday to stay a week in the space. We're gonna have some fun on the tractors playing in the dirt.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

Here's a few more pictures of the progress on my lake.

The small mound in the middle of the picture is a submerged island. To control my lily's, I'm only going to plant them on these submerged islands that will be about 4 feet deep. The drop off is another three feet and should be deep enough to stop them from spreading from this area.

They are also great for fishing. I have some stumps piled around the sides and will add some more debri to the top plust the water lily's to profide cover for the forage fish. The steep drop off is also a favorite for game fish.

This should be a great spot to fish at.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

This is my shoreline road. The lake is to the left.

I'm building this up from the clay that's coming out of the lake. The land has a nice natural slope to about this area, then it takes a steep drop. This is what made me decide to make the lake here.

My first thought was to put the road on the edge of my good land with the gently slope, but with all the dirt I'm getting out of the lake, I thought it would work good for a road and increase the number of RV site's I'll be able to build.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

This picture is from the shoreline road looking out into the lake. On the right is the peninsula. In time there will be a gazebo at the end surrounded by water on three sides.

The pile of dirt on the bottom of my lake is really a mud pit that I almost got stuck in. It's about six feet down and super squishy. The ground feels like walking on a water bed, or jello.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

Here is a close up of the muddy spot. Water us oozing up from it, which must mean it's a spring.

Once the blade of the dozer hit this spot, the whole front end took a nose dive. The mud is so soft the blade instantly filled up and started cutting even deeper!!! Very scary.

I'll get back to this area with the backhoe and see what happens when I dig it out.

Eddie

 

[radair]

That looks like a lot of fun, Eddie. I'm anxious to see that lake full of water.

I enjoy watching the progress of your projects - good stuff!

 

[bmac]

Lookin' good! When will it be ready for water?

 

[Louisiana_John]

Looks good. I bet is kind of fun pushing dirt after clearing land and looking for bees all summer. That pic of the small sping I think you showed us that same one when you were clearing. Was there not one on the slope of the bank? That BIG rain we had last night did not slow you down? Ha Ha. We got a .10" across the border.
I got on my dozer sunday and did a little work in some of my bottems on Sunday. It is hard to belive it is this dry in January. I should have 1' of water were I was this time of year.
Keep up the good work.
John

 

[txdon]

Eddie, be careful with that "spring". When I talk to my uncle about my "spring" he said that the previous owner wanted him to use his bulldozer to clean it out and dig it deeper. He said he got a rod and suck it in the mud and it did not hit solid ground so he did not mess with it. That was 40 years ago. The level of the small pond never varies more than a foot. During a drought, the second year I bought the land, I dug a hole by hand about 10 feet from the pond. Three feet down I thought I hit what sounded like a gas line and then water filled the hole. Water has been dripping out of that hole for 10 years now.

Good luck with you pond! It is looking good.

 

[jinman]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Once the blade of the dozer hit this spot, the whole front end took a nose dive. The mud is so soft the blade instantly filled up and started cutting even deeper!!! Very scary. )</font>

Eddie, dozers and springs don't mix, but springs have been know to absorb dozers. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif I'm with txdon, I think I'd mark that spring location and make sure I stayed far away from it with the dozer. Sometimes these things run laterally underground and you can get caught even when you are not near the surface water. I think your idea of using the backhoe is best. You might even open the spring and have it feed your lake.

Did it ever occur to you that we are pushing dirt while most of the other TBNers are pushing snow? My tractor is no longer blue. It's definitely a shade of brown from all the dust. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[Louisiana_John]

Here is a pic I found on a forest service page. I think it was in Canada. This guy has got a big problem. I also have one of a small Deere that all you can see is the blade.
John

Dozer Pic

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