Stop me if they get too boring.Started late last June till August, got too wet and came back in late November. It's 500 acres of cut over we are turning into pasture. So far it's been me and one other guy and my 15 year old grandson for a month & 1/2 last summer.
more pics
When I first came up to look at the job in June it was as dry as a pop corn fart. Couldn't find a rental loader up here so we brought one up fro Fla. At that time I didn't know that rubber tires,Mississippi low land and rain don't mix.They had started clearing here a year or so before. The dozer pushed all the cleared debris into long wind rows.As you can see there was just a little dirt mixed in. Well the dirty wind rows acted as a dam and the over cut ground acted as a pond. After 6 or 8 inches of rain we had a nice gooey swamp. Go to plan B.
More pics
No burn permits needed, you can burn 24/7
Too wet for the loader so we sent her home. Too wet to burn so we bury.
Real hard to put a finish on this slop. Started to put in some temp drainage ditchs, only 4' fall in a mile.
Too wet to work,time to go back to Fla.
Drove back up on Thanksgiving day. Burn piles dried up real nice. Found a high spot! Cut to fill baby.
This D-7 may be old but she sure can push a blade full.
Bragging brings bad luck Bubba Hyd pump hand grenaded on D-7 so I got "promoted" to end dump operator. New 330 here now(thats a long story) so it's time to finish 2.5 acre pond we started in August.
That end dump may be old but she sure can carry a big load. Dam that was bragging. Ole dumb a** can't go any where with out getting stuck.
Holy crap!! Those are some serious pics!
Gee it looks like it's goin to start raining again. Dozers still in the shop and I've got 400 loads of dirt scattered all over.
Busted Bubba, bragging brings break downs Finished all we could with end dump and water pump went out. Still no dozer and it's raining cats and dogs.
Look what Santa brought New shoes or not she still won't float
Woah santas getin to Fl late this year, lookin good tho...
Funny Mississippi One place you dig you get water at 3',100' away you can go down 20' and still dry. 4" snow funny too, first time Iworked in it. Feel sorry for you guys up North
These planted pines are a real PITA, no spring to them at all. You slam them down and they break in half. Had to clear about2500' to dig drainage ditch for 150 acres on the Southend. Trees were to small for the logger to take.
Bonus It's already wet enough but now we get tornados and 70 mph winds with the rain.
Thats the loaner D-6 they sent out while they were putting in a new hyd pump. Yeah they just spent 4 weeks putting in a pump over Christmas but nothing lasts for ever. Oh yeah thanks a pant load for the loaner, it's got ac and you can hear your phone ring while your running it. 25 in the morning and you get a loaner with ac. Other pics, it's wet and still raining.
Hope I don'tget in trouble, is there a limit to pics you can post? I'm rained out today, out of town nothing to do and you guys added the easy picture re-sizer. I'm not stuck, just lost my momentum. You can lose your boots too. More ditches to help things dry out since the sun wont shine and it rains all the time.
Great Pictures. Brings back memories for me of various sites on Gold Coast, Australia being developed for golf courses and housing over the years. A D3 LGP or equivalent would be handy for clean-up following the bigger dozers. Lighter machines can level the top and stop the water ponding in track ruts, allowing it to dry out. Such dozers can work where a man can't walk so watch yourself and if you stop for smoko, stay on the machine!!!!!!!!...C ya......Ray
Great pics! Keep em coming- im counting down the days until i hit the dirt..
Posting pics is unlimited, but only 5 per post. These are great!
Watch the ground Hey Ray, You got that right about the smoke breaks. This place is crawling with moccosins and Timber rattlers. I saw one rattler that so big I thought some ones pet python got loose. I've seen alot diamond backs in Fla but this thing was a MONSTER.
Thanks for sharing the pics-loved the ones of the DRY ground, haven't seen that in a while around here in NEA. ZAXIS
Yup I think we broke the drought.
Really nice pics looks like an interesting place. Gotta love the d7h. we got one just not an lgp and that thing will just keep pushing and pushing.
What part of Mississippi are you in? When I was up there working, I noticed the ground water level being a bit high also. I put my machine on one lot and when I did I saw a wave go across the property. There was about 3' of solid ground on top of water.
Middle of no where Hey Kepple, I'm about 70 miles S. of Jackson and 20 W. of Laurel. Right in between Hot Coffee and SoSo (Google it, I aint kidding). The ground here is pretty weird, about 25 different types of soil and they all act different. I'm going to bring back some of the real wild stuffand send it into the lab for a proctor when I get home. I can be running my dozer and feel the 330 when he gets with in a few hundred feet of me. Hows the traffic in O'Town? No stop lights in this whole county. No beer or Booze either. Pete
Rained out again Some times I have to have the excavator clean my blade off. This was supposed to be a 2 acre pond. Excavator kept sinking and couldn't get the end dump in or out. Stockpiled all the material and 2 weeks later it was hard as a brick bat
water table is really high. that is very cool. definitely need tracked machines for that, huh.
Water table is funny aroud here, some places 2' some 20'. We could only run our loader for about a month 1/2 last summer. Right now 1/2' rain will put the end dump on the side lines for a few days. Got over 2" rain last weekend ran about 60 loads on Thursday. Yesterday had to clean air filter twice because of dust. One extreme to another. Pete
Fun looking project, looks like you are enjoying yourself. Thanks for the photos. One question, are no permits required to do all the drainage ditches and the pond? I know in WI if you did all that the DNR would fry ya if you didn't go through the paper work. Thanks again. Trbo
Oh no, not the DEP!!! :ban But great pics, what a job that must've been.
Gotta love that Mississippi mud. Fun stuff :Banghead pulled up on a job one time delivering some pipe or something (can't remember) watched a D8 going from the off loading area over to the job proper. Did good the first couple hundred feet hen broke through the crust and had mud up to the drive gear. came back a week later and the hole was huge and the entire area was roped off. evidently the contractor or whatever was from up north and didn't know what to do.
It aint over yet. We've got about 120 out of 500 acres done so far. Pictures aren't all the way up to date, I think I'm up to March so far. Don't want to get banned for posting too many pics. Look what they did to Country Boy. Pete
How can you get banned for posting too many pics? Pictures are what makes this site great!
Double duty Some times they need a few extra hands up on the ranch to help with the cattle. Good thing my hoe man is also a cowboy. First time I was glad I had a cowboy operator. We helpedout for 3 days sorting out the herd to put the bulls in with them. Those little calfs sure are cute and fun to watch until you have to work with those little bastards. I have all the respect in the world for real cowboys now. Pete
Doesn't look like you use a calf chute either huh? My dad figured they were to slow so we threw em by hand. All 1,200 head. Wasn't much skin left on the shins when we were done. Thanks for the pics.
Towards the end we were only wrestling the small ones and put the bigger ones thru the chute. Like I said I got alot of respect for those who do it for a living. Pete
Moving along It hasn't rained in a week so we've been doing pretty good. Still too wet to run the end dump so the D7 had to haul the pipe.12" wasn't too bad but I only hauled 2 24" sticks bout wore me out loading them up. Started discing the first 50 acre pasture, good to see the dust again. He did manage to find a spot that wasn't so dry tho. !00 tons off lime, nice pretty trucks. They didn't want to haul clay on site tho. Glad it wasn't windy while they were dumping, I hate those frameless trailors. Pete
This aint Alaska Had to borrow the tractor from the ranch to load the spreader truck. I never thought I'd see a truck driving acroos this old mud hole. Some kinda green tractor thingy. 30' wide disc. 30 wide do-all,I'll bet they had a few beers under their belt when they invented this thing. Tractor man did a great job, looks like a golf course. Minus the sand traps and bunkers. Pete
Old stuff I''m sure alot of you guys are running pretty new equipment and think my D7 and end dump are old relics but heres the stuff we started with. Pete
Nice kitty
Well, if it runs, that's good enough for me.
Anything will run when a Deere is chasing it.
First 50 done!! Spriging crew took 2 days to plant 50 acres. 450 to go.
Just Damn Some idiots came out over the week end messed up my shifter cables on the D7. Makes my blood boil.
I like that old stuff, it's about all we work. Feel your pain with the shifter cables, set some bear traps around the equipment and post some signs, if the punks think yer bs'ing they'll have a nice surprise. don't ask how i know this. but it is effective.
Great pics!!!!
Wish me luck I stayed out last night till 10 pm waiting for the vandals. I've got one of those game cameras and it showed them coming in around 11. I'll stay a little longer to nite. Friday and Saturday nights have been pretty active last few weeks. Maybe I'll get lucky tonite. Pete
Nice photos Pete, we had a similar reaccuring issue with some vandals a year ago on a job in DE. We had to enlarge a retention pond and had a 6" pump running 24/7 till we were done. Well some kids thought it would be cool each night to cut the discharge hose (on the slope) washing a big ol' chunk of dirt back into the pond:Banghead After the second night, we put steel hose on and a couple guys went to check on it at the end of the day and caught them... apparently they weren't waiting till dark.:beatsme
Get the idiots. make sure you get them to pay up for the damages too.
Big rain This is what it looks like after 3" of rain.. Only worked half a day. The ditchs were back to normal next day. In the first picture that little red thing on the left is my 4" pump
Big time dry You can't have your cake and eat it too. This is after a 13 day dry spell. Have to clean air filters once or twice a day. Kinda hard to see where your going or where you've been. It does keep the horse flys away tho.
Big wind This makes it kinda hard to see too.
Big help My 16 year old grandson got here last week. Skipped a fishing tournament to come to work. Up at 5:00 am and ready to go to work till 7 or 8. He's also the cook, looks like I won't starve after all. I hate to brag but if all 16 year olds were like him we'd be in a lot better shape in this country. I take that back, I do like to brag.
Big move Had to build new driveway, 25'x1650'. Reclaimed material from the old one, had to back down over half way because it's to soft on the sides. Looked like we might get some rain. Got half inch at the ranch but it never made it to us.
Im in the same boat as you are! We run a sludge operation in our farm fields and we use a cat challenger to pull the sludge rig. Well we decided to leave it out over night one night in kind of a bad part of town. Well that wasent too good of an idea, because when we came back in the morning the thing was roasted. So what we did was rebuild the whole tractor, but this time we put all tinted windows on the thing, so now were gonna leave it out in the same field again, but this time im gonna sit in it all night. And lets just say those punks are gonna need some new underwear when I pop out of the cab with my loaded 12 gauge
lol wish I was your grandson. noone here is hiring right now its soo slow. Nice pics btw.
Awesome pics, how long have you been on this job now?
Great pics!!!! That looks like a NH7610S tractor like mine. How about some fencing pictures, like to see what they use up that way.
We started end of June last year until end of Septmber and then came back Thanksgiving Day. My grandson was here for almost 2 months last summer, other wise it's been just 2 of us. Pete
Funny you brought up fencing. We weaned the calfs this mornining and put them at the far end from their mums and seems like they're all just about back together again. I should be able to get some pics of ruined fence tomorrow. Pete
Wow those are great pictures. Do you have any pictures of all the machines lined up? You have one big job there.
This is an AWESOME thread! I'm really glad I found it. You have some wonderful equipment. It sure does rain a lot down in Mississippi eh!? Keep on posting the pics and bragging away. I really am enjoying it. Warren
H ere you go.
Thanks
Is the equipment owned or rented? Still on this project or on to the next one? If you have any more pictures, post away we love seeing them!
I just found this thread and couldn't stop reading it. Posts like this is what makes this site so much fun!!!! Keep it up, the pictures and commentary are excellent. Thanks, Eddie
All the equipment belongs to the owner. We looked at renting an ADT when our old one was on it's last leg but it was cost prohibitive.You can only run the truck when the weather is just right so it sits idle for a good while. I came back home for Thanksgiving and was going to return till Christmas but 5" rain changed that. Still raining a bunch so just waiting for some dry weather. Mean while no work here at home, may have to go out and get a job. Pete
looks like a fun job except for the cowboy part ya'gotta love cleaning tracks on a job like that, huh.
Looks like I'll be heading back to Ms. this weekend. Two flats on my trailer got me a little slowed down. More pics to follow. Pete
$300 for a new tire.(Note to self, do not haul scrap iron anymore) Got a big load to haul up there this time. Cat 287B,rake, bush hog, forks, bucket, auger drill and land plane. Plus all my stuff, frozen homemade food for a month. Waiting for the rain to die down in the Panhandle. I hate driving in the rain. Pete
I finally made it up here. Spent 350 miles in the rain. It was a pretty big load for my truck but you couldn't even tell anything was back there unless you were going up a hill or had to stop. Notice the pull cable on the front of the truck. Never knew how big that D7 was or how small the 287 till they were lined up. Pete
Dam Beavers First pic is last years dam and then the new one they put up this year. Ever notice how they never build them where its easy to get to with heavy equipment? I'll have to read up on that beaver thread again. Tried to pull it apart by hand but had to go get the 330. If you ever do take one apart by hand be careful, beavers build with brambles. Sorry the pics didn't come out in the right order.
Nice 287, how do you like it? Any more pics?
The 287 is a nice machine,I don't much care for the enclosed cab. The door really cuts down on your visibility when using the land plane. I'll post more pics when I can find some high speed. Pete
Since I couldn't tear the whole dam up I dug a ditch around it.
I went back a couple of days later with the dozer and sure enough they were back. I cleared down along side the slough so if they built another one I'd be able to reach it with the hoe.[/ATTACH][/ATTACH]
New attachment for 330 The dam is back up again so me and my little friend are going to see if we can find them out there working on it.
Alley way This is kinda hard to explain. Last summer we built little road (alley way) between the new pastures and the rest of the ranch. Cut a ditch next to it and pushed the fill up to build the road. It was so wet you could only do about 150' a day. The D7 would just fall right thru it. They mark property lines by painting the tree with blue and yellow paint. So we built the road as close to the tree as we could. The guy that owns the hayfield in 1st pic didn't want the trees damaged that were on his property. Had the surveyors come out in the fall and all the trees were on our property, so we took them out. Now the alley way is 25-30 off the property line so its time to move it over. The fill that wouldn't hold up last summer is as hard as concrete and the 330 struggles to tear it out. Where we are putting the new road is so bad the D6 cant even track across it. So I've been digging out 4-8' of slop and filling it back up with the old road. Maybe you gotta be here to understand,I think thats what I'm doing.[/ATTACH][/ATTACH]
keep em comin great pics
Thanks for sharing the pics, nice looking equipment. Did your you get your beavers handled yet?
Not yet. 2.8" rain yesterday and 1.25" last night. May be a little wet to work today so I might set up down by the dam and see if I can find the critters. Bad part is that it's warming up and the snakes are on the move. I'll have to bring along the 410 shot gun for them and the big bang stick for the beavers. How many guns do you carry on equipment? Pete
I've had a couple rounds with the beavers, snakes, and large field rats. I make it a point to carry a .22 pistol when bushhogging, there is always a field rat somewhere. I always carry a pistol in my pocket, and never leave home without the Colt H-Bar AR-15. Never know when you might run into a beaver or snake or worse. I always carry a shotgun when riding 4 wheelers too. :usa Great pics!
Too wet to do much today except chase puddles. Had a bad tornado just West here last night and calling for more tonight.
Theres tons of rats around here (easy Qball)and once you kick them up out come the sabre toothed rattle moccosins. Insert smile face with beer and flag knocking his head on wall next to Qball.
The only good thing about 4" of rain is it took out the newest beaver dam.
As of this morning we've had 8" rain in 3 days. Anybody need any puddle pics? Pete
hey in post 89, 5th pic down was there a drain tube there or something to make the weird whirlpool thing lol
Thats a 36" pipe.
thanks cat makes perfect sense now.
I took the first picture 2 days ago, that was the most water I had seen down there Then I took this picture today, it's just a couple of feet from coming over.
all done Well the gig is up and I'm back in Fl. Not much work here for skid. May have to join the rat race again, if I can find anybody hiring. Pete
oh man. i was really likin watchin this project as it went on. just be sure to do this again with your next contract.
The cows are out there now,will have more pics soon.
Pete how do like that landplane, got in pics of what it looked like after using the attachment.
Best attachment I have.It's a real time saver.
Woow! that looks like a lot of work. But I gotta say, some of that looks like a lot of fun.