After a lengthy tour of all the changes, Jim and Kyle got busy moving some tools. Jim was anxious to get some tools moved from the lower shop up to the woodworking shop where they belong. It was an on/off rainy morning so it was a good time.
Since we are officially done with brick, they were able to get the mortar mixer hitched to the back of the 4Runner and moved out of the way.
Some of these tools are so very heavy - it was so nice for Jim to have Kyle here to help. They loaded them up on the back of the truck for the ride up the hill.
A couple tools they were able to move up our stairs, which was nice.
After lunch, the skies cleared and the real work of the day started! The plan was to uncover the water line first - we had left this trench open but time and erosion had filled it up. Time to unbury it - ready for the first scoop.
Jim had to be very careful with the excavator - one hit with the teeth of the bucket could puncture a line and require a major fix. So a lot of hand digging was involved.
Julia got in the action too - helping to pull and hold the water line back away from the digging action.
Unearthing more line...
Back to digging...
About this time, we heard the truck from the street arriving with the new Bobcat!
Checking it out for the first time - so exciting! It looks even better than expected - quite a sigh of relief after buying it online (although Jim certainly did his due diligence with requesting tons of pictures).
Getting inside to move it off the truck...
This machine operates totally different from Jim's old one - the inside looks like the cockpit of an engine! Every control is different. It took a few minutes to figure out how to even turn it on.
Driving it off the first set of ramps...
The driver and Kyle move the ramps down to the end of the truck.
Getting ready to drive it off the ramps - this picture doesn't begin to show how incredibly steep these ramps were.
As Jim started to drive off the ramps, it was so steep that when the Bobcat went from the flat truck surface to the steep ramps, the door popped open a bit - which triggered a safety feature that disabled operation! It was like a scary roller coaster ride! So Jim was stuck - and he's in a pretty airtight enclosure so communication was tough. It took a couple tries with our hearts in our throats watching in order to get it off the ramps. Whew!
Julia taking a turn sitting inside!
Then Kyle!
The joystick controls are vastly different from Jim's old Bobcat - he'll have to totally retrain his brain to make the use as automatic as he's used to. But he got it...first scoops...
Although Jim would have loved to keep playing with the Bobcat, it was time to get back to work. They got the water line all unearthed...time to cut across the driveway. The plan is to install a lawn hydrant that we will be able to use both now and later on for an outside water source.
Kyle took a turn digging...
Both machines in operation - Kyle working the excavator and Jim in the Bobcat.
Kyle doing some hand digging while Julia measures to see if the trench is deep enough.
Figures...we hit a giant rock in the middle of the trench!
It broke in half during the removal process...
The excavator is amazing - this is a crazy big rock and Jim was able to get it out.
Here's the other half...
The Bobcat earned its keep - moving the giant rocks out of the way.
Kyle used the excavator bucket to hold the rock in place so that Jim scoop it into the bucket.
Whew...giant rock removed - just the crater remaining.
Trench all finished except for some hand work.
Jim used half of a concrete block as a base for the lawn hydrant, then made a good base with gravel.
Jim got all the fittings on the lawn hydrant and brought it out to test in the hole.
Unrolling the water line...
Next, the water line had to be pushed onto the end of the fittings on the hydrant.
Tightening up the hose clamps to the brass fittings...
Time to fill up the trench...more gravel around the hydrant and then we put a base of sand on top of the entire water line.
Then it was making sure the hydrant was straight and filling in with dirt.
Filling up...
Doing some grading...
Hydrant all in place and trench filled up!
Bobcat across the trench and parked in front for the night.
It was a great day - lots of accomplishments! So glad Kyle & Julia were here to help and share in the fun!
 |
| High 79/Low 67 |
No comments:
Post a Comment