Bruce's Journal

[greybeard]

Personally, unless I just have to lift something high, I prefer to use forks on the 3 point instead of moving it with the FEL. I always have forks on from fall thru early spring anyway to more easily move round bales so that's what I like to use for moving everything else too instead of starting the backhoe.
1. You never have to worry about losing traction at the rear wheels.
2. Generally more stable left to right.
3. The rear tires can support more load than the front tires. Narrow front tires tend to sink down in winter easier than the wider rear tires.
4. Lots easier to just temporarily pick up a load of dirt or snow in the front bucket to use as a counterweight to the real rear load.

 

[Bruce]

Guess I can pick up a tiny load in the backhoe bucket and have one of the DD's hang on for the ride
I have quick attach front forks. There is a large hunk of concrete with a lifting ring in the barn right next to the drive bay ramp. Wonder what that weighs and if I could lift it with the backhoe's chain hook if I really need some more weight on the back. Would have to truss it up somehow so it doesn't swing.

Don't know how high one could lift something with 3PT forks. I'm pretty sure I would have a devil of a time backing something into a narrow space. And I wouldn't be able to get it past the steps to the landing or between the hand rails. The loader arms are narrow enough to fit between the handrails and far enough forward of the front wheels to get the load on the landing ... at least that is what my measurements say.

BTW there ARE still tadpoles in the muck pool. We are SUPPOSED to get an inch of much needed rain tonight. I seriously doubt it will happen given the radar says all but some spittle is running south of us.

Cleaned the wood stove chimney today. Burning some scrap wood to test it. Seems fine and the living room/dining area isn't 64° anymore. And now I have an empty scrap wood box.

 

[RollingAcres]

BTW there ARE still tadpoles in the muck pool. We are SUPPOSED to get an inch of much needed rain tonight. I seriously doubt it will happen given the radar says all but some spittle is running south of us.

That rain is stuck here in NY. It's been raining since yesterday morning.

 

[Latestarter]

you get a rain train and pick up 2+ inches to help get that new pond fill started right! Do you have any "finished" pics of the pond or are you still "fine tuning" it? Since you've lately been posting about the wood pallet system, I figured you'd finished with the pond.

 

[Baymule]

Yeah, we are on pins and needles waiting breathlessly for pictures of a big mudhole with pitiful but very cute little tadpoles at the bottom of it. shouldn't they be be frogs by now or are they going to be professional tadpoles forever?

 

[RollingAcres]

shouldn't they be be frogs by now or are they going to be professional tadpoles forever?

I was thinking the same this morning when I saw his post and I had to look it up. It normally takes 8 to 9 weeks for tadpoles to turn into frogs, some take longer. Has it been 8-9 weeks yet since he posted about tadpoles?

 

[Baymule]

Honestly, for the life of me, I can't understand how he could leave those poor little tadpoles in that awful mudhole. He should have caught them all and transferred them to an aquarium in the house with a tunnel to a terrarium where they could be little froggies.

 

[Bruce]

The second aquarium needs to be resealed Bay

Yeah, pond finished, but haven't remembered to take the camera out. I dug a pit maybe 18" deeper than the surrounding area so there would be a definite low spot but it doesn't seem to be holding water well. We got about 1" of rain (no more in the forecast ) A section of the wider north end of the pond seems to be holding its little bit of water from the rain. Some of the muck slumped into the tadpoles' area and displaced a lot of the water. I did what I could to dig some of it out without killing the tadpoles that were attempting to stay wet. AND found 4 small fish, 2 of which were still alive. Gasping on their sides in the mud hole, I have NO idea how they managed to survive in a mud hole with little water the last few weeks. So I put about 4 gallons of hose water in a bucket and put those fish in it. They recovered once they had clear water to breathe so they got some flake food and are in the upper part of the little barn for now. We are calling them Adam and Eve because it will be up to them to repopulate the pond if it ever gets enough water in it. Of course they could both be Adams or both Eves, then we have to figure out what kind of fish they are and see if we can get some more ... if the pond ever fills. We could use some of Florence's rain but I doubt there will be anything left if her remnants even reach us.

I have one wood rack done, will test it tomorrow. First, with a spotter, see if I really can stick it on the porch landing. If I can manage that, take it to the little barn and load it about halfway with some of last year's leftover wood and take it to the porch. If that works OK, take it back and load it up and take it to the porch. All the old wood in the little barn will be put on the porch in the racks there. I think there is about 1/2 cord there. If all goes well I have some wood I need to split that I can put in the rack. I'll build at least one more rack this year (time dontcha know) that I can use to move the already stacked wood to the porch landing.

 

[goatgurl]

the wood racks sound good in theory, sure hope they work in reality 'cause that would save you a ton of load and move it work.

 

[Bruce]

I hope so @goatgurl! I've seen similar on a tractor forum. Don't know how many are carrying directly to a door.

Wood rack picture, will try to remember to take some "in use" pictures later. The upper part is actually the start of the roof but I want to measure when the rack is on the porch landing before building it. Still not sure if I need something across the back to keep the wood from falling out during transport.


Pond after the rain



and some modification of the tadpole area. This is where I found the fish


The "pit" it has some tadpoles in it now too, must have washed down during the rain. Needs more water. Tadpoles in the pit.


The water in the north end of the pond. As you can see we didn't get much rain


And the fish in the bucket