Greetings all,

I know it's been a while, but wanted to make sure I provided an update on my pond progress. I was able to complete it over the summer - thankfully just before that massive amount of rain we got in August. For those wondering, I did end up using the stumper to remove all the stumps (the guy with the stumper was the same guy that dug the pond). It took him two hours and ten minutes to grind everything, and he was able to get to the bottom of the root mass easily. Incidentally, he used the same machine to grind solid bluestone on another job, so rocks were not a problem. One thing I learned was that I should have cut the trees off a little closer to the ground (I left three feet sticking up because I wanted to be able to see them in tall grass). The stumper was so fast on the small trees though, that it would occasionally snap one off before turning it into chips. I would definitely use the same machine again, as it allowed me to turn nearly all the trees into fire wood first, and I had no large stump piles to deal with. When we spread the topsoil on the back side of the dam, the chips all blended in fine. I know I've rambled on here a bit, but if anyone wants more details as to how my process went, I would be happy to share. This all worked very well for me, but may not work for others with different circumstances / priorities - just hoping to give something back to such a wonderful group of folks on this forum.

Just a few more details - Had three pieces of equipment - dozer, excavator, and 12-ton sheepsfoot roller. Went about 12 feet deep (water level has 5 feet to go to reach full pool as of today).