Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Decided to contract out the pond renovation....

I have a pond that is roughly 3/4 to 1 acre in size that is silted in pretty bad and needs to be dug out around the sides of it roughly 10-20' all the way around it. Plus the levee needs to have some trees cleared off of it and a new drain pipe installed. I busted the levee probably a little over a month ago and ever since then I have been thinking about how to tackle getting this job done. I've got the tools/equipment although a little small for this project but for some reason my gut is telling me that this project has potential for me to get hurt. I can't explain it but for some reason I just got a bad feeling about it. So I got a price from a local dirt contractor and he said that he could come in and do everything I want in a few days and would charge me $4k. This would probably take me 6 to maybe 8 weekends to complete plus equipment repairs,fuel, expenses so I went ahead and asked the man to get me scheduled when he can. This is the first time in 15 years I will have ever paid someone to do something at the farm for me but for some reason I feel like I need to on this one........I normally don't have gut reaction type feelings but on this one I'm gonna have to listen. From the sounds of it I should have a completed pond sometime in the next month. That sounded really good to my ears.

This last year I received 3rd degree burns on my arm doing something at the farm and I didn't listen to my gut then warning about what I was doing. So this time I think I am better off letting a true professional handle it. Although I am normally one to do all of my own projects but this time I think it's gonna be left to others.....I sure hope he gets it put back together before the good rains of spring come.

Lee,
Trees, silt, mud, steep slopes, what could go wrong?
Good luck on your pond.

If you think about something and you then feel uneasy about it then get help. A wise move. I have seen 2 people killed and a couple maimed because they tried to do something contrary to careful thought.

I do a lot of things myself and I hire other things done. The decision on which way to go is based on time, money, efficiency, safety, and enjoyment (not in any particular order).

leeinmemphis,

I'd like to commend you for listening to those feelings. I know exactly what you are talking about....many, many times I've gotten those same feelings on a dozer and each time I back off and call a pro (who also happens to be a good friend). I've never regretted calling in help for special situations I'm uncomfortable with. Plus, here's a factor you may not have thought of....my wife and family know full well that I will not hesitate to call in a pro when those feelings happen....as a result, they never worry about me working with heavy equipment plus they always support me when I take on a new project, which is quite often.

Wishing you the best in this and future projects.

My wife & kids worry about me every time I go out to the country, they see the shape I come back in ! And that's for the work I DON'T hire out Last trip to my Pop's, we took a huge storm damaged tree out from one of the sloughs, it was intense, and very dangerous...Mom coundn't watch & left. I won't hesitate to run fenceline, clear tall standing timber, and tow just about anything with chains...but when it comes to heavy equipment on steep inclines, things get dicey. I have fun listening to the dozer operators tell tales...and they know just how much track needs to be holding Operating a dozer in that environment should be in the hands of a professional....wise choice Lee.

I couldn't agree more. I did the above mentioned cleanout this summer and there were several times I could have been seriously hurt if I had made one wrong move. I took my time and went slow in precarious situations. I grew up farming and using heavy equipment but it only takes an instant for something bad to happen.

On another note, I think 4K is a bargain. I burned a third of that in fuel doing it myself plus breakdowns and wear and tear. If you are like me, you think you need so much time but it usually turns out needing twice that much time.

What is it about the job that is so dangerous?

I think heavy equipment can always be dangerous no matter what you're doing. Two cases in point. Case #1, I was simply pushing some brush into a pile. One large tree in the middle of the brush pile was laying with cuttoff trunk end toward the dozer blade with top of tree straight away from me. As I pushed I was apparently spring loading all the branches of the tree. All of a sudden the butt end of the trunk (12 inch diameter) popped out of the pile and shot like and arrow rearward over the top of my blade and right over my shoulder as I ducked. It hit the gas tank behind the seat hard enough to cave it in. We're talking a dozer gas tank made of 1/4 inch thick steel. Case #2, I was pushing small dirt piles around on level ground. I didn't know there was an old barbed wire fence mixed in with everything. All of a sudden felt something pulling on my leg. A piece of barbed wire had gotten wrapped up in the track and the end managed to find it's way through a small opening into the cab where it had wrapped around my leg. Fortunately I stopped right away cause as you know a dozer will keep right on going if you don't purposely stop. Worse yet is that it wrapped around my left leg and pulled it rearward making it impossible for me to reach the clutch. If I hadn't had a reverser that was hand operated I wouldn't have been able to stop other than turning off the key. These are only two stories of how I could have been hurt bad just trying to save a few bucks while not doing anything that looked dangerous. I pray for safety every time before I get on that machine.

You have to take chances to learn what works and lee, you made a decision to not learn what works and leave it to the experts. Probably a good call. Hillybilly earthmovers in TN have been known to chain/cable smaller dozers to D9's to make sure the smaller dozers don't go tumbling 200' down hills in the Tennessee area. It ain't my idea of making $16 per hour, but if it works for you, go for it.

Growing up on a hill farm in TN I've been in my share of hairy spots on tractors, trucks and my dozer. My grandfather died in a tractor rollover so I'm well aware of the dangers. I'm just wondering what it was about this particular task that made him hire it out. I haven't seen any pics of his place that I recall, so I wasn't sure if it was steeply sloped or what. How is your pond doing Robinson?

Hillbilly, sorry about your grandfather.

Equipment is dangerous and there ain't but one way to learn how to push one to the edge, which sometimes yields fatal results.

Topsoils is removed to clay mix and 1' to 2' of red clay is down in and compacted in most of the basin.

Waiting for rain, if it ever will do so again.

Last week before it rained I diverted the wet weather spring above my pond away from the hole in the rock it was disappearing into. When it rained I went out in the mud and watched to see what was going on. I realized that before diverting the spring I was losing probably 70% of my available runoff into bedrock as the spring flow increases greatly during a rain event. We only received about .8" over 2 days but the pond caught enough to raise by almost 2 ft. Hoping to be full by late winter now.