Bruce's Journal

[Latestarter]

DW and DD1 were screaming for me to stop. Said there were tadpoles going down. So I pushed some "stuff" to stem the flow. Put me in the doghouse since apparently I was driving over the tadpoles.

Seriously? Are you kidding? Are THEY kidding? How can the two of them function in the world of reality? How many insects do they kill driving? Are they completely out of their minds? Or is it a selective thing about what can be allowed to die? They do realize that the herons and egrets feast on those tadpoles, right? as do coons, and the fish, and anything else that can swallow them...

Bruce, I really feel for you and can't imagine how you manage to stay sane and calm dealing with your situation... I think I would become "cidal"... either sui or homi And I believe they are deliberately driving you towards one or the other... Sorry man... I'd laugh but it's so far beyond funny... You must have the patience/heart of a saint.

Aside from the issues that are preventing progress, you seem to be making some. I would recommend taking the banks down some as well so they aren't so vertical. That will help slow their collapse into the pond once it starts filling again. If you have some $$ to spare, you could order a couple truck loads of gravel and cover those banks to help with erosion as well.

If you dig the current puddle down as deep as you can so the water can run down into it to "save the tadpoles", you could then clean out the deep end working back toward that puddle and let it drain back into the deep end while you finish up digging out the in-between area.

 

[Rammy]

Im with @Latestarter on this. Tadpoles? And ditto on the bugs. Dude, run.......

 

[Bruce]

Seriously? Are you kidding? Are THEY kidding? How can the two of them function in the world of reality? How many insects do they kill driving? Are they completely out of their minds? Or is it a selective thing about what can be allowed to die? They do realize that the herons and egrets feast on those tadpoles, right? as do coons, and the fish, and anything else that can swallow them...

Of course I'm not kidding you Joe! See, if the heron eats them (and it has been hanging out at the buffet table for weeks) that is NATURAL. But if WE kill them, or let them die if we can save them, that isn't. I guess because we aren't eating them. Of course that doesn't explain not raising animals that we would eat. The insects on the grill are unavoidable accidents. Spiders and ants in the house are carried outside and released (not by me!). Even if it is -20°F and they will die. I can not explain them.

The low spot you mentioned is already as low as it can get, I was scraping along the rock bottom when I made that. I can angle down the vertical area you mentioned. Not easy to see but the "top" of that cliff is below the waterline when the pond is full. Hmmm, actually I can't, not with the tractor since there is now a "pond" there and it is the low spot. Guess I'll have to use a shovel from above.

After working today.
From the south and then from the north, no more "upper pond". It was where the depression is in the second picture. And yes a lot of that water came from the hose. I don't think any fish are alive though DW thinks she found and saved a small one.



After tomorrow I'll have to take a few hours off digging and do the first service. I'm sure that will take a couple of hours. Need to change the oil (6.7 quarts) and filter, fuel main and pre filters, hydrostatic and hydraulic filters, front axle lubricant (4.9 quarts). Transmission oil (8.7 gallons) doesn't need to be done until 100 hours. How do people get rid of nearly 9 gallons of hydraulic fluid??

 

[Mike CHS]

I get rid of my fluids by having a mechanic come out and do the services.

 

[Bruce]

Ah, I see. They charge $110/hr for tractor service. Not sure how much they charge to come out, or if they even do that. Didn't think to ask. I think they charge $30 one way to transport the tractor to them and return it.

 

[greybeard]

. How do people get rid of nearly 9 gallons of hydraulic fluid??

I take it down to the county trash compactor/waste oil collection point. No charge...a private processor comes by and collects it when the county's tank gets full and pays the county a little for it...probably pennies on the gallon.
(Unless I'm burning brush piles and need something to get it burning good and hot, then I use it for that purpose.)

Right now, I have about 150 gal of waste diesel, bad engine oil and hyd oil from last year when I had to replace the oil on everything here after the flood. I suspect about 1/2 of it is actually water, since most of the oil floated out of the engines and transmissions.

 

[Bruce]

My town is not part of the waste district. I think it may be the only town in the entire state that isn't part of their local WD. The town does have "hazardous waste" days, April, July & September. I need containers. I went last month with an old scanner in its original box, waste oil and oily paper towels and filters. They took the oil at one place then sent me to the next. The guy took the scanner out of the box and put it in a trailer for recycling. Dumped everything else in the compactor truck. So much for mandatory recycling of the cardboard. I don't know if maybe I can give them full containers and get them returned empty.

 

[Mike CHS]

Ah, I see. They charge $110/hr for tractor service. Not sure how much they charge to come out, or if they even do that. Didn't think to ask. I think they charge $30 one way to transport the tractor to them and return it.

I could do it myself but Cosmo does a complete service with all fluids for around $235 last year. He is an authorized Kubota mechanic so it covers me for the warranty.

 

[Bruce]

Hmmm that is something to consider.

 

[greybeard]

My town is not part of the waste district. I think it may be the only town in the entire state that isn't part of their local WD. The town does have "hazardous waste" days, April, July & September. I need containers. I went last month with an old scanner in its original box, waste oil and oily paper towels and filters. They took the oil at one place then sent me to the next. The guy took the scanner out of the box and put it in a trailer for recycling. Dumped everything else in the compactor truck. So much for mandatory recycling of the cardboard. I don't know if maybe I can give them full containers and get them returned empty.

Scoop up all those dang tadpoles and take them too.