The Breakroom > The Water Cooler

Let the Ditching Commence !

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awemawson:
The weather forecast is dry up until mid-day then quite heavy rain for several days. I've only 45 foot of ditch to scoop out, and although the ground is still really too soft I decided to have a cautious try.

All was going reasonably well until on the last 15 foot the machine was distinctly unstable - stabiliser foot on the 'heavy side' just kept going deeper and deeper and the machine was canting over far too much as I lifted the bucket at full stretch across the ditch.

. . .I bottled it . . .  :bugeye:

Fortunately I'd got far enough past the pond that there was room to approach the ditch 'rear on' - a far safer configuration even if it does effectively mean moving the machine for every bucket full.

Anyway the bulk of the ditch material is shifted and I can do a bit of tidying up the edges with the smaller machine when I shift the spoil to the ever growing berm.

As a matter of interest the JCB 3CX has used 32 litres of red diesel doing this job - I'd topped it off before I started on March 28th and topped it off again just now having finished. The dumper and 3 ton JCB will have drunk their fair share as well but I can't accurately quantify as they weren't topped off before I started.

awemawson:
This afternoon I cleared away the spoil from the last session - at least this means that this section of ditching is finished - hoo-ray! The last dumped load was more like Brown Windsor Soup - sploshing all over the place as I drove.

I'll probably do the length behind the cottages next - first there is some brush wood to clear away that I don't want mixed into the spoil, then it will hopefully be a much lighter scraping - just evicting the vegetation - as the stream is flowing.

I can't really start the pond yet as it is full of frog and toad spawn and their tadpoles which are just developing legs. Given a few weeks they will be mobile and hopefully more of them will survive than would at the moment were I just to plough on and do it.

awemawson:
Last week I was able to clear the brushwood from the cottage side of the stream by pulling it across the stream with the JCB 3CX. This had always been the intention when the Alder and Willow growth was cut last year as carting it all the way round would be a right pain - too far and would involve dragging it through the cottages courtyard so not guest friendly.

Having got it into the 10 acre field for a bonfire this left things free to start dredging the actual stream. There's about 13 years worth of vegetation growth and the intention is to hopefully just remove this leaving the banks ramped suitably for the egress of wandering sheep without human assistance!

While the 3CX was in the paddock clearing brushwood I did a tentative scoop just to prove that it did have the reach.

awemawson:
Now my 'master plan' was to dredge the growth from the stream and leave it on the north bank to drain, and in a few days cart it to the berm that I'm creating.

Yesterday I had the two crucial planets in alignment - empty cottages and dry weather - so I set too with enthusiasm and managed to pull out the full length of the stream where it goes between the paddock and the cottages. However the silty stuff was so goopy it was pretty hard to get it to lodge on the sloping bank - I didn't want to pull it into the paddock itself as quickly you end up ruining the grass and this is a 'guest dog exercising area' 

All went well until about 3/4 of the way along I burst a hydraulic hose. If the 'Extendadig' cylinder was fully extended an impressive fountain of expensive 32 weight oil was produced however if the cylinder extension was stopped before it was fully extended there was no leak. Hose obviously opening it's burst when the extra pressure of a dead ended cylinder encountered. Careful control of the Extendadig pedal let me continue with just a bit less reach.

I was able to finish by lunchtime and it wasn't until I read the forecast for today I realised that if not moved the silty stuff would slither down the bank in the heavy rain that was predicted.

So instead of a nice restful Sunday afternoon I set out again after lunch and moved the spoil from the north bank - horrid sloppy stuff - had to be careful driving the dumper not to spill it all out !

The idea was to leave the banks at an angle that sheep can manage unaided - much but not all of it is !

Pete W.:
Good afternoon, Andrew,

For posts dated prior to the end of march, I'm seeing the pictures as pictures; for later posts, I'm seeing what I presume are pictures as attachment references!

Is this general or is it just my end?

Well, whatever it was seems to have gone away, I'm now seeing the pictures as pictures!

It seems my lovely but shy assistant is downloading a few gigabytes of one of her games!!   :doh:   :doh:   :doh: 

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