Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Friends Pond and Water Line for Raised Bed

This past fall I helped a neighbor dig a pond. We used the dirtmaster without the tractor attached which left the tractor free to move the dirt away.  The dirtmaster and the BX are a great team.
                                                           


In this image my friend Dee is running the Dirtmaster with the help of our 'special'  friend Tod.   I should note that while I did not run the Dirtmaster all the time I was there the entire time it was used.  

We have 3 tree stumps directly on top of the city water main.  I know because I found them when digging last year.  I did call the dig number but there was a mixup.  Anyway I can't dig the stumps out because  the roots are wrapped around the water main.    My solution was to build a rustic raised bed using dry stacked concrete blocks.  The blocks are filled with rammed earth and  tied together by driving rebar into the rammed earth.  With luck the stumps will rot in a few years and I can move the bed if I want to.

In this image shows the hole I dug with the dirtmaster so I could lay an irrigation pipe under the wall.


I only had a short bit of pipe to lay so I used the 16" bucket that was already on the machine. 
      
Last week I dug up 4 or 5 inch tree and a wood fence post to make room for a new fence gate.    Now I don't have to drive all the around the block to get the dirtmaster into my backyard. .     

Currently I am moving a chain link fence.  It does not take long to dig a hole beside a post so it can be removed.   

Yup you could have done all of these but for the pond without the dirtmaster.  But it sure made the doing easier.  When I have a small job to do I back the  BX into the garage and snag the dirtmaster with my 3 point hitch mounted 2" ball.  No lifting.  Then jump off the tractor to close the ball coupler and swing the rear jack out of the way.  Almost take as long to explain it as it does to do.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Busted a hose. (my fault)

After about 2 hours of digging a foundation for my neighbors home addition a hose sprung a leak.  4  more feet and it would have been finished.   The hose was not on the cylinder that raises the boom so I could still get it home.

The rose ruptured at the crimp on metal end.

On closer inspection it looks like I may have damaged the hose while digging up trees.  Lessoned learned.  Always cut the tree down first.      

The local repair shop cut the hose off and put a new end on it.  Thanks to KWIK  Way for making the hoses long enough to do this.

                             

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Moving Water Lilies Spring 2013

The bucket on the Dirt Master can be reversed simply buy pulling the pins and switching it around.  We used it to remove the overgrown water lilies from our pond.