Both of my kids are keepers. My son also drove 1.5 hours each way from and to his place, so it was a 17-hour excursion for him (and it was 90 F). Best thing is his calm demeanor, unlike me, especially with deep trenching - up to 13' deep, and cave ins - we stayed out of the trench. I guess all those video games honed his coordination. He took to the backhoe (and dozer) like a duck to water when we built the last pond. Did the same the first time he shot clay pigeons. Daughter visited Sunday but I was whipped from Saturday's activities. I am a lucky dad!

P.S. Looked at pond site this morning and I made a tactical error filling in the sacrificial hole that we made to temporarily drain the main hole to install the pipe in the pit at the top of the drain. We got an inch of rain and the bottom of the main drain pit has a slurry of mud in it. Hopefully by Thursday, I can get the backhoe near the hole and remove the muck. The pipe does have an intake screen on it, and its inside of a 5-gallon bucket and appears to still be working. Thought that I could climb down and clear the muck out of the bucket but stopped when I was above my knees in quicksand. I think this type of soil is refereed to as 5-minute abode.

Last edited by RAH; 06/23/20 06:35 AM. Reason: added morning update