I drove up to my pond on Saturday morning to go fishing with a friend of mine but instead of seeing a full pond I saw a half full pond. My twenty inch metal spillway pond had formed a rusted hole in the bottom of it about three feet long and two feet wide. It looked like the spillway at lake ray roberts going out. Mike met me the next day at dawn and we began to work. He brought out ten men and a track hoe. I had bought ten pallets of sac crete at home depot and had it there by 730. We worked non stop cutting out the old pipe and filling it with concrete. I should also give a big thank you to my cousin marty mcchristian who brought out a quick saw and a cutting torch. we covered the end of the pipe with a plastic barrel end and cinched it tight with straps. then everything was covered in concrete. It rained two inches after we finished and the pond came up 5 feet in twenty four hours and no leakes. Thank you Mike Otto and Marty

Story time.

Do you know when I realized I was going to like Mike Otto? The very first time I met him. He probably won't remember, but we met at Bruce Condello's place a couple years ago. It was a Saturday morning, and following a rather eventful late Friday night, (that's another story) I arrived to find Bruce's John Deere gator broken down alongside the rather busy highway that runs by his home. And I mean RIGHT alongside.... halfway on the narrow shoulder.

I was introduced to Mike, and after watching Bruce give an astounding demonstration of hand feeding LMB, a few of us were sitting and talking in Bruce's living room, waiting for others to arrive. (And for Sunil to wake up). The whole time I kept expecting to hear extreme braking and crashing noises, followed by gator shrapnel impacting the house. Finally, I couldn't stand it any longer, and I asked Bruce if he minded if I went out to the machine and took a look.

He didn't. And Mike Otto got to his feet, coffee in hand, and announced that he would go with me. We got to the machine, and I was able to determine that the throttle cable that runs from the accelerator pedal to the carburetor, had broken. I could get it started, but couldn't apply throttle. All it would do was idle. This Gator utilizes a variable displacement belt drive pulley system, which engages as the rpm increases....like a centrifugal clutch you had on your mini-bike as a kid....without a way to advance throttle, it wouldn't pull itself.

I had an idea. A hare-brained, stupid, crazy dangerous idea. But I needed to run it by Mike first. "Mike, If I keep my left hand on the steering wheel, I can just reach the carburetor with my right. I will activate the throttle shaft manually, to engage the drive. BUT, in order to do so, I need to raise the bed fully, which means I can't see when a vehicle tops the hill (did I mention the blind hill?) and tries to run us over. In addition, I will need to make a U-turn across both lanes, AND, since I will be making adjustments right at the carb, it will be extremely jerky and violent, which will cause my hand to jerk even more, which will increase the jerkiness....etc. I need you to be my eyes, so we don't get run over and/or killed while doing this. What do you think?"

A lesser fellow would've excused himself on the spot, remembering something vital that needed his immediate attention back at the house. And I wouldn't have blamed him. Mike just grinned widely, and said "sounds good, let's go for it!"

So we did. And it kind of worked.. Mike was probably wearing more of that coffee than he got to drink, but we made it. We got the gator back to the house and Bruce helped us push it into the garage. I don't know if anyone saw what we did to get it home, but I never told anyone until now. I was too embarrassed....this was Mike Otto, one of the owners of PondBoss! A guy who has been around equipment, and by extension guys who fix equipment, probably his entire life. And here I was risking both of our lives on a silly stunt.

Later that day we got to hear Mike's take on a few things pond related, and that only served to reinforce my admiration. Although I've only met him one time, he left a lasting impression on me, and I'm grateful I was able to spend some time with him.

Awesome story!

I've known Mike quite a while and he is a class act. He also has an evil sense of humor that I have been the target of.

+100

Tony, that is a fantastic story. It brings crazy images to my mind.

I can also see how Mike would be right there with a crew and equpment to help James.

Having known Mike for a number of years, I can easily see how he and Lusk can be such close and longtime friends. Mike is so quiet, yet when he speaks he sure says a lot with just a few words. I love the wisdom and kindness that shows up in his book. We are so fortunate to know people like him through Pond Boss.

There are quite a few stories just like that about Mike and Bob - they just keep popping up - must be a way of life for them. Thanks guys !

Dave, you make a great target, buddy! And a big plus one on Mike being a classy guy (it's no act)! Then again, PondBoss attracts a lot of class along with some solid ideas, knowledge and experience! It starts at the Top, with the owners and mods setting the tone!