AND NOW FOR, THE REALLY BIG MOUND........
Well, after all that sitting back and surveying
the situation with my layout area, it became quite apparent I needed more
dirt, lots of dirt..............
Frances and I, along with Charlie's handy pick-up
truck, had made many trips back an forth to the dirt quarry (?) and
purchased dirt for the pond area trying to build it up for support............after
the second truck load (or was it the third) , we inquired if they
had "Wimmen's Dirt" (that was actually a joke, as this stuff was
starting to get heavy), which surprisingly...........THEY DID! At
about $5.00 more a load cause it had some good stuff mixed in with it that
plants just love to nitrate on..........so I think the last two loads we
purchased was "Wimmen's Dirt"...................sure made it a lots easier
to move that stuff!
I started making phone calls to see how
much various companies were gonna charge me for various tandem loads of
dirt ( tandem meaning 15 cu yards, more or less depending on which company
you talked to, I got varying loads from 9 to 15 cu yards) delivered .................finally
after all those many phone calls, I decided to use the same company I had
been purchasing my "Wimmins Dirt" from cause I liked 'em and I trusted
'em......and I placed my order for a tandem load of dirt to be delivered.
The big day to come was the following Monday!
Now guess what? We had been dry, really
dry, for quite a spell...................and of course, when I woke
up on Monday it was overcast!...............What else is new?.............But,
"I kept the faith".........this stuff was gonna be delivered without a
hitch...................then the phone started to ring................"Our
driver is on his way to your house, but he doesn't know where you are located!".............So
I give them detailed directions............Duh...."About 6 miles due North
from where you are and take a left into my drive way"..................30
Minutes later, another phone call..............."Our driver is on his way,
where are you located?".............Duh.....Again, I give them directions...................at
this point it is starting to drizzle pretty good outside, and I am making
phone calls of my own to my office to let them know, I was probably
gonna be late!
Just about the time the truck pulled into the
driveway and I met the driver outside, it started to pour down rain..................we
stood underneath the carport exchanging niceties, and I thought I was clearly
understood by the time he crawled back into his truck where to make the
dumps...............did I say "dumps"? How many "dumps" did I tell
him I wanted him to make? "Three", I told him................and
I even pointed the spots out. But he was the expert on dumping, so
I left it up to his discretion exactly where to dump and how much in each
spot..................
"Hind Site is 20 20".....
Rained all day and most of the next too, so
I really didn't pay too much attention to the dumped dirt...................As
a matter of fact, I didn't pay too much attention at all until I had the
opportunity to go out there and start moving this stuff around...........and
guess what I found? Dirt, lots of dirt..................in my pond.................Most
of the dirt had been dumped just above my pond, and guess what else?
A goodly portion of the dirt had funneled into my pond.....................I
actually found this out because I noticed the filter to the pond was not
operating. Huh, "I said to myself"? "This is a new pump and
filter, this is a new pond"..................... but, when I pulled that
thing out it was sucking air like someone had struck a dagger into it's
lungs..................
As Scarlet O'Hara would say, "Tomorrow is another
day, I won't worry about it today" or something like that...............
I started to move dirt................wet dirt,
heavy dirt,..... heavy, muddy, dirty dirt.....................YUK,
HELP!
Well, word quickly spread that I had dirt,
lots of dirt to be moved around..................and I didn't want to take
advantage of my friends and family's good natures, so if someone volunteered,
I allowed them to come help me...............I moved as much as I could,
my son-in-law, Kris came a few days and moved as much as he could with
two babies in tow..................then I got to the final count down!
Eric to the rescue!
Funny thing about this, I hired Eric to come
help me move dirt, even asked him to bring the roto-tiller with him cause
I knew what we had would have to be tilled and raked after all the rains...............but
I think I ended up moving most of the dirt and Eric ran the tiller all
day. Must be his "new found experience" working against me!
This was the weekend BEFORE the CGGRS meet
at my house to start laying track.....
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, someone else
had plans for my weekend too................YEP..............my best friend
Frances, along with her hubby Charlie, and their trusty pick-up truck.................
'WE NEED TO EMPTY YOUR POND UP AND CLEAN IT
OUT BEFORE NEXT WEEKEND, MARY JO..................OTHERWISE, YOU ARE GOING
TO HAVE A MESS OUT THERE..................CHARLIE AND I WILL BE OVER LATER
TO HELP"...........
OK
What could I say?
Eric, his Dad ( he arrived just about the time
Frances and Charlie did, so I told him we were not finished), Frances,
Charlie and I..............syphoned water, skimmed fish thru a net, separated
big fish from little fish, plucked froggies from the pond pump, plants
from the pond...............and vacuumed gallons of mud from the bottom................just
so we could begin to lay track the next weekend.............
Thank you Eric......................
Thank you Kris..............
Thank you Frances and Charlie.............
More Pics To Come.................(sorry, I
didn't consider this mound of dirt a milestone until after it all got moved)
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