03/10/13

Today was quite a productive day. I spent almost the entire day on the tractor. The first part of the day was spent moving some brush and better consolidating the log pile where I need to do grading work. The rest was spent moving dirt.

I wasn't sure how well the process of using the tractor to level the area would work. I knew that it was a task that could be done with a tractor, even though its not exactly the best tool. My biggest concern, though, was that I've never done that type of work, so wasn't sure how effective I would be. After several hours of working on it, though, I have to say that I'm pretty pleased with the results.

I did have one mishap, that slowed me down and is going to cost me some money. I was using the box blade to loosen the dirt and move it out of the way, then using the bucket to push it where I wanted it to go. One of the shanks of the box blade caught on a large rock, and the tip of the shank broke. It was one of those situations where something had to give, and between the rock, tractor, and shank, clearly the shank was the most likely candidate. The only thing I could have done to prevent it would have been to react more quickly, and stop the tractor or raise the box blade.

Since I hadn't dug down as deeply as I wanted when I hit the rock I knew it was going to be a problem. I decided that I better dig it out, and so spent nearly an hour doing so. By the time I was finished I had dug a hole approximately three feet deep. When I finally dug the rock out I realized that the problem was that it was standing on its end, so I flipped it over, so it would lie flat, and just covered it back up. I shouldn't have to worry about it again unless I did down another eighteen inches or so, and I don't anticipate needing to do that.

I still have some work to do, but I think that I'm more than halfway there. I'll get Andrea to go out with me one day and help me determine how far out of level the site is now, and where my low and high spots are. The forecast is calling for heavy rain tomorrow, so I suspect that it'll be several days before I can get back out there and work. I'm sure that I'll find something to keep me busy in the meantime.