question, statement and update on my pond dig

ok well we rented a backhoe to redig our shallow areas of our pond deeper, and while we were using it, about half done, a hydrolic hose broke..

yes it spewed hydrolic fluid all over in the water of the pond dig, kinda freaking me out as i'm not sure what that will do to my pond, it is a fairly large pond, and the area that was contaminated now is not the entire pond, until it rains enough for it to all fill back in, then it will be.

ok the backhoe was stuck cause you couldn't use the hydrolics..so we got it pulled out with the tractor and cleaned up and loaded..but while we are cleaning it it is spewing out more hydrolic fluid and when we drive it to the trailer to load it..more hydrolic fluid spewing..

so not sure what i should do about the spills..

one good thing, when he returned it they asked him to take it to the repair place, but they did say they would let him have it again after it is repaired, evidently for free, but he has so little time off we aren't sure when we can do that..but...now we have a partially dug out pond, none of the dirt piles moved, and hydrolic fuild messes in 3 or 4 areas of the property, including some water..

before it rains too much you can dig out the soil with the hydraulic fluid and put it in sandbags
on the pond surface they make special material that floats on water and absorbs oil I would try and get the rental place to buy me a box and if they can't be made to do so get them myself but it needs to be done soon

something like this I think TSC carries them
http://www.absorbentsonline.com/oilonlypadsrolls.htm

Out of curiosity, what were you doing earlier to keep the ponds from becoming mosquito breeding camp?

before we had fish in the pond we put in organic mosquito dunk donuts..and they worked good, but after, the fish kept them at bay.

the fish were protected in the areas of the pond that had not dried out

here is a link to some photos so you can see that we avoided digging where there was standing water in the deeper areas

http://restfultrailsfoodforestgarden.blogspot.com/2010/09/page-one-of-redigging-our-pond.html

i am concerned about the fish, turtles and frogs cause of the hydraulic fluid spill..will be seeing what can be done to clean that up, it was in an area that wasn't very wet.

he had just moved it and was going to start digging again so it wasn't over the water.

thought about using cat litter to absorb and then scoop that off and dispose of it.
did hear from the rental company and they are giving us free use of it at another time when it is repaired.

update, we are having 50 to 60 MPH winds here so a little too windy to get the skimmer out and clean the water..but i did see a small oil sheen on a small area of water that is isolated from the rest of the water by dirt..so that is contained until i can get it skimmed off or pumped out of that hole..was going to attempt to skim it but i would have blown away..so day after tomorrow i believe the wind will be dying down.

we will have the tractor scrape off the contaminated soil..and watch for any further oil sheen on the pond areas before opening it up to the areas that have fish and turtles and frogs in them

if you look at the link on the post above you'll see we were careful to isolate the new digging area from the areas where water was still standing ..where the fish and the other wildlife are..and the hydraulic fluid only leaked into one hole with water in it so we can isolate that unless we get flooding rains (which are not in the forcast)..thank God.

they did say he can use the backhoe again when it is repaired, evidently for free, so maybe next Sunday or Monda??if he can get time off work

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in the middle of our pond redig we blew a hydraulic hose last week..well the rental place called this morning and had a different machine..a mini dozer/backhoe available for this weekend..so we went down and got it.

Joel was able to play for 45 min before he had to go to work, it has a smaller bite but is much faster and has a 360 degree turret on it..so it also makes it much easier to move the dirt..he got a lot moved in just those 45 min in the rain and cold.

forcast for tomorrow is 70 and dry..so we hope the pond doesn't fill up in this rain before tomorrow !! at least he can move some of the piles and banks and work from the banks even if the pond does get too wet to work in there..he had most of the deep digging done before it blew last week..but had huge piles of dirt all over to be moved.

this one has no bucket , but our tractor has a bucket and backblade..so this should meet our needs..

http://restfultrailsfoodforestgarden.blogspot.com/2010/09/september-12-and-13-mini-backhoe-and.html

a link to yesterday's photos ..you can go to other blog postings and see photos from the other days of the dig and before digging..

I forgot to tell you, I did get up on the tractor over the weekend to see if I could drive it, but I had to have help getting onto the tractor and my leg was too short to push in the clutch, so I obviously can't drive it, so that is now out of the question.

I was talking with Ron, out by the swing, about how I was disappointed that I couldn't drive the tractor cause there was so much I would do if I could, and he said, what is the first thing you would do..and I said..well I'd love to move all the dirt that Joel dug out of the pond but first I would want to level (and I pointed to an area just in front of the swing by the pond where a lot of weeds were growing on an unlevel part of the bank) that area out.

A little later he walked around (saying he was looking for goldenrod galls for the cats to play with) and he came back driving the tractor. He had learned a lot on Sunday driving it helping Joel and I think he felt more confident on it, so he started trying to level out the bank, he had a few problems but he kept at it..for a few hours, even after dark where he had to turn the lights on. I had to come inside and he stayed out there for a little while after I came in ..playing on the tractor...so I'm not sure what he did after I came in..but he was enjoying himself levelling the bank area..he tore up some areas that I'll have to use a rake to try to level out..but I told him not to worry about that, as that is what we have rakes for..but anyway, he was enjoying himself..He attempted to dig out some tree stumps, but they just have too good roots for him to dig out, they need a chainsaw..mine is busted right now, a part missing so unless i can get the part i can't use mine, might be a ble to "make do" with something else as a temp part for it someday, i'll try to figure that out..would be nice to have those stumps out of there, get the entire bank raked up nice and smooth and maybe pick up a bag of grass seed and get some grass sowed on that bank..cause that would give it fall and winter to get established..we do have a rainy period coming in, according to the weather forcast..but it is all iffy, isolated...scattered..forcasts like that.

he is sleeping sitting up on the family room sofa right now..not very comfortably I'm sure.

I admit i'm somewhat disappointed that I wasn't able to "drive" the tractor, I was pretty sure I'd be able to learn it but as you know sceptic as to whether it was a good idea to learn it or not as it would give them another excuse to put more jobs off on me, but actually kinda relieved. Once I learned to use the lawmower (zero turn rider) no one ever got on it again, figured that was my job..and before that i did 2 days of mowing wiht the walk behind, cause they figured I would do  it so why would they bother getting their butts on the rider and helping..nope.let her do it she knows how.. I used to do all the snow removal with a snowblower until lit brooke and they were too lazy to put it in the truck and take it to the repair man for a $40 part fix..so they do the snow remofal with the tractor, but if i could drive the tractor that also would be my job..so maybe i am just a little bit relieved..but with my lack of patience i would like to get the jobs done around here that sit undone cause I can t do them, or i end up doing them with a shovel and wheelborrow or a pitchfork and wheelborrow