I had a backhoe to play with on the property today. Most of the rest of the trash was moved into the dumpster. A huge pile of bottles, cans and other debris from the former owner's "burn pile" disappeared there as well. It's amazing what you can do with one of those little machines...
A vast number of thistle plants were laid waste by the backhoe as I made trips around the property, some were over eight feet tall! I felt like I was driving through darkest Africa with that bucket in front of me, pushing down the weeds before me as I thundered through some "not yet mowed" parts of the property.
The Lord worked out a wonderful timing series today too. About mid-morning my friend Tim called and asked for help with his basement that had flooded. I went over with my little pump and we worked a while, then I came back to Walnut Hill to get a shop vac and assorted other tools. While I was there it occured to me that I needed to uncover the septic today because the guy was supposed to come pump it at some point. I knew where the tank was, but wasn't sure where the access hole was, so I ended up scraping the dirt off most of the tank before I found it. Now I know that from the SE corner of the house it's 39' due south, then 3' due west and dig. Buried treasure, of a sort. Anyway, I'd just uncovered the access hole when my cell phone rang and the septic guy said he was coming down my road and could he come by now. Worked out perfectly. He was in and out in about 20 minutes. He said the tank is old fashioned (c. 1949 with the house, probably) and will have to be replaced at some point in the future as they tighten regulations. (I figured as much.) But for now we're good to go, we made it under the deadline of July 1.
It took longer to cover up the septic than it did to uncover it. (Capt. Murphy came to call.) There had been a depression in the ground above the septic before, and I wanted to replace the dirt I'd removed and add to it while I had the backhoe there. So up the hill I went with the backhoe to a dirt pile I'd found. (An old 4wheeler jump.) But the rocks on the path down the hill were so bad that I had to put about eight buckets full of dirt on top of them so the machine wouldn't tip over coming down with the _two_ buckets I needed for the septic hole. So it took me about 90 minutes to do a 10 minute job. Go figure... :)
Dinner with Tim and his wife was pleasant to relax and unwind with good company at the end of the day. The water was receeding in his basement and the shop vac no longer needed. But I had brought a broom/squeegee combo that turned out to be just the ticket for corraling the final dribs and drabs.
Between removing the "burn pile," dumping much more trash I'd picked up, helping a bit with Tim's basement and getting the septic taken care of, it was a productive day.
I'll probably work with the machine a bit in the morning, filling the odd hole around the place with dirt before they come to take it away. It needs a good pressure wash at the moment and I don't have one... yet. First I need to get a new pump hooked up to the well so I have running water. Probably Wednesday or Thursday I'll tackle that chore. Then we'll see how much pressure I have and whether it'll do the job.
With all the rain, my "almost dry pool" is now about six to eight inches deep again. I'll need to pump it out and start over. We needed the rain, the ground was/is very dry, but it's a pain to have to repeat a chore.
Thanks for reading. More updates as we make more progress,
Doug
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