gehajake,
I agree with your analysis of the blue clay. When cutting it at the bottom of my little test trenches, it certainly looks like it has been water logged for years. No filled cracks or root structures to indicate that it even dried out during a drought year.
I also agree that I think I have a good chance of building "bathtub" ponds. However, that stuff looks slick as h*ll, and I don't see how a dozer can push on it when wet. I am not sure I can excavate an actual bathtub.
I am worried my ponds project will look more like my bathroom floor used to after running three little kids through the tub. There is water everywhere, but none of it is where you actually want it!
Any advice from your neck of the woods on working that type of saturated clay?
