Another long day...and then MJ died...

Today I spent the majority of the day trying to till the backyard. The ground it a lot more solid then I thought. I ended up breaking the drive belt after only three long runs in the back. Then I spent the next 2 hours driving from store to store trying to find a replacement belt. I finally found one at the local hardware store. The only problem is, I wasnt sure of the correct size so I ended up buying the wrong one. After getting home and installing the belt, I was only able to make one pass in the backyard before the belt I just bought snapped. CRAP... So after Scratz got home from work, I headed back to the hardware store to find another replacement. However this time, I bought 2 of them just incase. That is about as far I got today. Tomorrow we are going to Lagoon, so no yardwork for me.

And for all of those Michael Jackson fans, here is a video in his memory.

Yard update, 4-billion and 10...

Well today was pretty much a waste of a day again. The sun was out for the first part of the day, but the ground was still kind of soft. I decided I would try and move some of the gravel from off of the newly poured concrete and stick it out in the far end of the yard where we might have a sitting area on year. Well, I managed to get one load out to the fence line without much of a problem...UNTIL I tried turning around to head back to the house. The left side of the bobcat sunk all the way up to the frame. I couldn't turn, all I could do was go forward and backwards about 3 feet. With each attempt, the bobcat sunk deeper into the mud and I inched closer and closer to the fence. I then decided to use the front bucket to try and push or pull my way out. I was not making and progress forward, but was slowly going backwards. Remember I am literally 2-3 inches away from the fence. At one point the front bucket actually snagged on the fence, but I stopped in time not to completely destroy it. Since that wasnt working so well, I did the old trick that you do if you get stuck in the snow. I started rocking that bobcat like it was a 1982 Chev Scooter. I figured it at the rate I was going I was going to be buying a new fence for the farmer when I was done anyway, so I put the throttle up and went for broke. Somehow I bounced that bobcat up and out of the hole and I ended up getting high centered on a wooden pallet. I again used the front bucked and was able to work myself off of the pallet. Since I was no longer stuck I figured I ran out all my luck for the day, so I parked the bobcat and moved on to a different project.

By this time I was already pretty frustrated, then so I decided to wire the valves for the sprinkler system. I got everything wired up, and luckily I took this picture of the wires I needed because I almost cut the wrong ones when I made it over to the other set of valves.



Well as I was doing playing with wires, Scratz had been digging in the area of the mud puddle to see if she could find where the water was coming from. She ended up diging a little hole where you could actually see the water flowing from either under the cement pad or coming up from the ground. The water was draining out pretty quickly so we ended up making a trench that headed from the cement pad to the middle of the yard.



The point of the trench was to see if we could drain enough water off to either have it all gone or to find out where it might be coming from. Well the water kept flowing for hours. We even turned off the sprinkler system to see if that might have been the source for the leak. After many hours of waiting for it to stop, we think it might have tapered off but I am not really sure since it started raining again.
After just a few minutes, there where puddles of rain everywhere again.


I continued to play in the yard, while Scratz took the time to clean the house and watch the baby. While I was outside I was able to complete all the wiring to the sprinkler vavles, mount the controller, and do a quick test of the system just before it started raining again. Since I ran into about a million stupid problems while installing the controller, frustration won out and I called it a day. Shortly after that my brother called to tell my Happy Fathers day, which I actually pretty much forgot about with all the B.S. going on with my yard project. Anyway, I talked to him for a few minutes and then decided to go out to dinner with the baby and Scratz.
We went to one of our favorite places to go, Lorena's. It is a small Mexican Resturant where the food it good and the price is even better. I figured the rain would start again while we were in eating dinner, however the rain never came. When we got home, I happened to take a walk out into the backyard and noticed that the ground was firmer then it was earlier in the day. I decided to take another try and moving the gravel since I did pay a hefty amount to rent the bobcat for the weekend. Luckily I was able to move one load of gravel without any problems, tried a second load and was successful with that as well. Then I figured, since the ground wasn't just a big mud pit, I would flatten out a few of the tire ruts I had made earlier.
I was able to avoid the extra soft spots for the most part and re-flatten out a large amount of the backyard. Scratz was outside helping me spot mud zones and sprinkler heads so I wouldn't cause any more damaged then needed to be made. While I was flattening out large sections, Scratz was filling in the big ruts I couldn't get to with her shovel. We only had about an hour and a half of day light, but we did a pretty fair amount of work in that short time. That is a good thing, because now I dont feel that I rented the bobcat for nothing.

Well, it's getting pretty late and we both have to work in the morning. Hopefully by the time we get off work tomorrow, I will be able to tell if we still have a water leak in the backyard or if it is just drainage from around the house. This will require the rain to stop for a the rest of the day at least.

Happy Fathers Day!!!

Seriously....Stop it...

Yesterday the bobcat was delivered to the house. They wouldn't let me tow it with Big Red, but instead allowed me to pay them an additional $80 to have it dropped off. Grrrr. However, once I got going I was able to get quite a bit accomplished. I think I need to buy me one just to have. It is a blast. I do have to say, I am quit at home sitting in the drivers seat working the controls. Maybe I can get me one and spend my time off digging holes in the backyard or just driving in circles.
Anyway, the first project I did was clearing out some dirt and moving the gravel into place in the front yard. There is a ton of extra gravel that will have to be moved to the backyard someplace once we get most everything else finished. I would have taken pictures last night but I didn't want to get out of the bobcat and waste time just to take a picture. ;)
Once I completed the gravel, I headed to the backyard to spread out the road base in the location of where we plan on putting the shed. By time I got this completed, it was time to take a break to eat dinner since Scratz got home.



The dogs spent the next 10 minutes barking at the thing.



I took today and tomorrow off work just so I could make some progress on the yard. This morning, we got up early to get a jump on the day. I started by leveling out the dirt on the north side of the house, then I made my way to the front yard to do a little leveling out there. While I was working the bobcat, Scratz manned the shovel and was re-digging out the area where the first sprinkler box is located. The box gets covered in dirt and mud every time it rains. Once we get the decorative gravel in there, I don't think we will have this issue.
One thing we did notice last night was there is one area out by our new cement work that was really wet. I started to dig at it today, only to find even more water. I don't know if there is a leak or if that is just where the water has been collecting. I guess we will be digging up that area once we get most everything else taken care of.
Since we found that nice wetland, I took a few minutes to walk around the yard to see what needed to be flattened out or whatever when I found a little mud spot that had water bubbling up out of it. I dug down to find a connection in the pipe that had not been secured. I was getting ready to fix that when it started sprinkling. I figured that it would be a quick little storm, so Scratz and I decided to go get some food and head to Lowes for a few parts that we needed. Well, the storm didn't just pass by in a few minutes, it is currently still raining. It has been raining for about 4 hours now. I cant believe how much it has rained. I dont know how I am ever going to get this yard finished at this rate. The yard is now a muddy mess and the sky doesn't seem to be finished falling as of yet.

Here is what my mud pit looks like now.



This is craptastic.

Rocks...

Yesterday, I had the day off and was able to do a little work in the yard. Scratz arranged to have the cobble stone rock

delivered at the house since I was going to be home. The guy showed

up to drop the rock off around 11am and I had him dump it off onto the park strip, to try and

keep it off the street.

Since I was already out shoveling dirt, I decided to fill in a small section of the park strip to see how it would look.

I don’t plan on doing a lot by hand because today I am getting off early to pick up the bobcat. I have a big day today. Hopefully the ground has had the time to dry out a little bit since the rain has stopped for a little while. It isn’t suppose to rain at all today, but there is suppose to be a little scattered showers later in the day tomorrow. If I can figure out how to work the bobcat without many problems, I believe I can get most of the items on my “to-do” list done before it rains. As far as driving the bobcat, I have only driven one a long time ago when I use to work construction. However, I was able to find a driving simulation online where you can hone your skills. If you want to practice yourself you can go to http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/skidsteer-sim/skidsteer.htm

The biggest thing about getting the bobcat is whether or not they will let me tow it with Big Red.

I have called a few times and depending on how I talk to the service person says I can or I can’t tow it. I really don’t see why I wouldn’t be able to tow it. After all I am paying for insurance on the bobcat and the worst that can happen is Big Red will fall apart on the way home.

That is all for now, look forward to the update of the bobcat action.

Sprinklers...Day 16

As you read in the previous blog about sprinklers, I had finished installing all of them only to find out we had ZERO water pressure. I spent the whole night wondering how I would go about finding the blocked or broken pipe. Well the next morning scratz made a call to the city and found out the problem was on thier side of the system. Apperently they had a break in the main line in our area and were working to repair the problem. This was the biggest relief to me, so yesterday was the day that the water was turned back on. I went and checked my system and the only problem I found is it appears I forgot to make the little hole in the main pipe where one of the heads connects. Out of 30+ heads only having 1 to fix isnt that bad at all.

Tomorrow we get to move onto a little more land scaping fun. Scratz ordered 3.5 tons of cobble stone that will go into the parking strip in the front of the house. From a co-worker, She got the name of a guy who gets and delivers the rock for a great price. So tomorrow around noon, I will have a ton of rocks in front of the house. This gets the rocks here just in time for me to have the bobcat on Friday. I am hoping the sun will come out and stay out for most of the day tomorrow and then is out for the rest of the weekend. If not I am going to have a heck of a time trying to drive that bobcat without causing more damage to my yard then it already has.

I have a secret...

Since I am at work today and extremely tired, I decided to take a slight detour from the sprinklers posts and post something a little more interesting for the masses. I have decided to pass along a little known secret that I have. I have been keeping this secret to myself for a few months now and so far my fellow co-workers haven’t figure it out. What is the secret? Well the secret is that when they replaced our 1980’s microwave, they replaced it with a microwave/convection oven. You might wonder how no one else knows this secret…Well I was here when they delivered it and the delivery guy handed me the manual. So in my boredom on that day, I read it. That is where I found out the microwave has a darker side.



It is the coolest thing ever. (Don’t worry I hid the manual.) The best part about it is this allows me to have a wider variety of foods to eat at work. I don’t get stuck with the typical microwave meals any longer.
For instance, today I am having a Tonino’s cheese pizza.



Mind you, this couldn’t pass for gourmet cuisine, but it sure beats the pants off of Hot Pockets.




Anyway, I am typing this up while my pizza cooks in the oven. Soon it will be nice and crispy and not that soggy mush you would normally get if you tried cooking a regular pizza in the microwave.
Well that is all for this minute, it’s time for me to eat my pizza.