Accidental sink
Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2015 11:34 pm
Okay, gang. So, here's the setup. I do volunteer work on a horse farm (they do hippotherapy for developmentally challenged folks, traumatic brain injury, etc. also.) I love farm work, and I enjoy doing tractor work so much even my boss at work and my doctor call it my "tractor therapy."
Out beyond the indoor riding arena was the "manure pile." Actually it had been there so long, it had been composted into clean, black, really really rich topsoil. To make a long story short, the pile got relocated, and that area was being turned into an extra paddock. After the heavy equipment was gone, I put the York Rake on "Little Bit", my petite Asian mistress. She's orange, 27 horsepower, and has four wheel drive.
She and I got right to work.
Once I leveled off all the bumps and raked the rocks off, I spread what was left of the compost over the field. There was one wet spot that I almost got the tractor hung up in twice. I was in a hurry to finish up, so I used Little Bit's loader bucket to fill in the tractor ruts and low spot with the last of that super-rich topsoil.
That night, it rained- a LOT.
The next time I was at the farm, my job was to fix the fence that had been behind the manure pile. I finished up half the fence, and literally stepped back to admire my work.
Crap- I had forgotten about that hole I'd filled in! With the rain, it had turned into ooze. Lucky I had my tall rubber "barn boots" on that day because of the weather. Next thing I know, I'm almost over my boots in black sucking mud. Did I ever mention the really intense reaction I get to a "surprise" sink? 
Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?) I wasn't alone on the farm. With my fetish-twisted hindbrain throwing a tantrum, my logical self forced me to very carefully work my way out of the hole without losing my boots or getting my work pants covered enough to be noticeable. 
That's the story, such as it is. That was probably the best mudhole on the 60 acres of the horse farm or my 50 acres. I never got to enjoy it.
Oh, and the grass in that new paddock is growing like mad! The horses get rotated in there for a few minutes each, so they don't overgraze and colic. I keep cutting it with the brush hog so as to select for shorter grasses, but it grows back in a couple days. Come late fall, if I get a dry spell after the grass has gone dormant, I want to top-dress all the paddocks with that same topsoil. And maybe- just maybe- out in the woods were the topsoil is currently stored, I might be able to expand a persistent wet spot, then backfill it with that wonderful soil. Would be my little secret- well, me and Little Bit.
Out beyond the indoor riding arena was the "manure pile." Actually it had been there so long, it had been composted into clean, black, really really rich topsoil. To make a long story short, the pile got relocated, and that area was being turned into an extra paddock. After the heavy equipment was gone, I put the York Rake on "Little Bit", my petite Asian mistress. She's orange, 27 horsepower, and has four wheel drive.
She and I got right to work.Once I leveled off all the bumps and raked the rocks off, I spread what was left of the compost over the field. There was one wet spot that I almost got the tractor hung up in twice. I was in a hurry to finish up, so I used Little Bit's loader bucket to fill in the tractor ruts and low spot with the last of that super-rich topsoil.
That night, it rained- a LOT.
The next time I was at the farm, my job was to fix the fence that had been behind the manure pile. I finished up half the fence, and literally stepped back to admire my work.
Crap- I had forgotten about that hole I'd filled in! With the rain, it had turned into ooze. Lucky I had my tall rubber "barn boots" on that day because of the weather. Next thing I know, I'm almost over my boots in black sucking mud. Did I ever mention the really intense reaction I get to a "surprise" sink? Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?) I wasn't alone on the farm. With my fetish-twisted hindbrain throwing a tantrum, my logical self forced me to very carefully work my way out of the hole without losing my boots or getting my work pants covered enough to be noticeable. That's the story, such as it is. That was probably the best mudhole on the 60 acres of the horse farm or my 50 acres. I never got to enjoy it.
Oh, and the grass in that new paddock is growing like mad! The horses get rotated in there for a few minutes each, so they don't overgraze and colic. I keep cutting it with the brush hog so as to select for shorter grasses, but it grows back in a couple days. Come late fall, if I get a dry spell after the grass has gone dormant, I want to top-dress all the paddocks with that same topsoil. And maybe- just maybe- out in the woods were the topsoil is currently stored, I might be able to expand a persistent wet spot, then backfill it with that wonderful soil. Would be my little secret- well, me and Little Bit.