Hey Jinman

[Thumper & Buttercup]

I've got to ask about your avatar, it looks like that tractor is buried pretty good. Did not want to dump on another thread. Is there a full size photo of that event. It hit -35.7 this morning here, we are up to -7 right now, not much to do but surf the web.

 

[Hooked_on_HP]

I wondered about that picture also. I would think there is a story behind it. I even went as far as searching Jim's old posts, but there were so many I couldn't find the story.
Bill

 

[EddieWalker]

Check to see if this is explains it.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/69791-silt-happens.html

Eddie

 

[jinman]

Check to see if this is explains it.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/69791-silt-happens.html

Eddie

Eddie, thanks for adding the link. The problem with that is it's so long, it takes forever to read. I do tend to get wordy sometimes.

Thumper, the whole thing was that I had a pond cleaned of silt. After 2-1/2 days, the dozer had to leave and left me with a lot of loose silt remaining. Rather than pay to get another dozer in, I decided to try and clean up the mess myself. That avatar picture is just one of many I took. The whole story is in the thread Eddie linked to, but the short story is in the pictures attached. I found out a lot about myself and my tractor during this project.

The first picture is the mess the dozer left for me and the rest are of me having more fun than a grown man should be allowed to have. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Now, about your temperatures. . . . Every night on the news when I hear how cold it is in ND, MN, IL, MI and all of Canada, I really feel for you and the other TBN members. Please be safe and hunker down for this cold blast.

 

[Thumper & Buttercup]

That does look like you are having too much fun, I thought for sure you were going to need a tank retrieval unit to get it out in that photo.

 

[Solo]

Jim. What does that pond look like now?

Solo

 

[jinman]

Jim. What does that pond look like now?

Solo

Like this. . .

 

[rayikeo2]

Nice Pond, well worth the extra work.

 

[JC-jetro]

Mighty fine looking pond you got there Jim. I like it

JC,

 

[dynasim]

Jim,

Is that a storm shelter in the background?

I had read the earlier thread previously, but not in detail. That was/is outstanding work. Thanks for sharing.

Chris

 

[Thumper & Buttercup]

That pond looks great,

We've got a slough that runs through here, it stays wet all year round, I guess with the right equipment we could make a pond like area for ducks and such. It would not be any good for fish.

 

[Jimmy Joe]

Nice job! That looks like the stuff that stays in the bucket even when you dump it. Good workout for your tractor, do you know how many gallons per hour you burned on a job like that?
JJ

 

[jinman]

Nice Pond, well worth the extra work.

Thanks to everyone for your nice comments. I want to add some gypsum and try to get the pond a little clearer. Plus, I may need to add an aerator to get some oxygen down to the lower parts of the pond. My catfish I stocked in there are about 1-1/2 lb and hang out just below the little peninsula where I put a shelf of large rocks for structure. This last year I saw lots of small catfish fry swimming in the shallows.

Chris, that's not a storm shelter in the background. It's my LBRB (little bitty row boat) sitting on the bank. It is one of those 2-man fishing boats you can put a trolling motor on. I use it whenever I want to get out into the middle of the pond.


Thumper, I also have a slough that never has much more than 3' at the deepest spot. It normally drys up in the dryer summers and I could dig it out a little to make a shallow pond for migrating birds. Our 15 acre soil conservation lake has hundreds of ducks and waterbirds in the winter. They really like the shallow slough until it drys up. If I can keep it wet, I can probably keep a lot more of the blue and white herons that hang around in the summer. If this was in your area, the lake would make a great winter skating rink.

Jimmy Joe, that silt was exactly as you say. The dozer operator spent half his time digging gumbo mud out of his bucket and that's what delayed him so that he went way over estimation in time. This was the first pond the operator had cleaned out and it was his "baptism by fire."

 

[EddieWalker]

Hi Jim,

Were you going to build a dock for the pond? I don't remember, but thought that you could take advantage of the low water level and turn a negative into a positive.

Eddie

 

[jinman]

Hi Jim,

Were you going to build a dock for the pond? I don't remember, but thought that you could take advantage of the low water level and turn a negative into a positive.

Eddie

Eddie, I don't really have any plans for building a dock because my peninsula kinda serves the same purpose. However, now that you mention it, if I could build a floating walkway across the pond to the outer bank, it would really add tremendously to the fun and also give me a permanent platform to work from. So, now you have me thinkin' and I suspect this will cost me some money before it's over.

 

[Thumper & Buttercup]

Our slough is wet all the time, there is a couple gravel pits around that are spring fed, and our slough keeps the level with them. We have a lot of cattails and I was taking the ATV across one day just to see if I could get across. We'll I made it across, was not thinking and drove back, well I thought I could make a better path to my 200 yard target on the gun range and took off again, but I did not stray from my original path, I made it almost to the other side before I stuck it good. The wife had to drive around to the neighbors on her ATV with a chain and go across his Texas crossing.

She got over there and had to back down into the edge of the water, well she had to gun her engine and I had to gun mine but I got out, I was totally covered in slime. We drove out the neighbors yard as he was pulling in, the guy with him started laughing and asked if I was covered in oil. Kim explained what happened. We'll we got back into the yard and none of the camera's were ready so no photo proof of this before I got hosed off by my wife. It' took about a hour to get the ATV clean. I know now to change my routes and drive on fresh cattails now.

 

[meanstreak]

nnnniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice thanks for your advice along the way

 

[johnnylight]

Jim,

Beautiful job --you should feel real good about your tractor and the job you did.
INCREDIBLE!


my suggestion how about a nice bench to sit and kick back.
one more-- solar power water fountain.


Enjoy.