Operating Engineers.

[salmonchaser]

So about 45 years ago I was a member of the operating engineers union. I ran heavy equipment, primarily dozers and excavators building Forest service roads, back when they did build roads. Also worked on freeway projects when we were shut down in the woods for fire danger.
Changing weather patterns have required me to put in a French Drain for the dry lot where we keep our horses. We used to get enough winter cold and snow the horses would only mud things up for a couple weeks in the spring. We called it mud season. The last couple of years, even though there has been a drought, mud season has lasted all winter. We havn’t had any prolonged ground freezing, very little snow and most of the limited precipitation has been rain. The mud has been a foot deep in early April.
I’ve 140 feet to put in so far I’ve held a constant 2% grade. Not bad for an old operator.

 

[jimbires]

lookin good . I have a hoe on my Kubota tractor . I can run a hoe , but I'll never be an operator .

 

[RL338]

I have an older Arps 3pt backhoe that mounts on my Ford tractor. Nice project tool to have around.

 

[wvbuckbuster]

Putting your older skills to work for you. Good job.

 

[truck driver]

Don, good job buddy, once you learn something like operating equipment I don't think you ever lose the skills you learn. You may be a little rusty at first but it just seems to come back naturally. Besides driving tractor trailers I also worked in the construction industry operating everything from a power broom to a 50ton crane, learned to fine grade with a track loader and other pieces of equipment. I bought a Kobota lawn tractor with a front-end loader and have used it to grade pads for buildings and dig whatever I needed done, ditches, grade banks, sidewalks are just a few of the projects it has helped me complete.
I graded a pad for my shed that my master carpenter son inlaw helped me build and he complained about the grade not being level before I put the stone base down it was to sit on, I had graded it at a 2-1 so the water wouldn't lay under it not even thinking about doing it and ran a string line to see how far it was off level and realized what I had done when I checked the grade.
Old Dogs don't need to learn new tricks, We just remember how to do the old ones.

 

[JD338]

Nice work Don.
We have been rebuilding our aqua gate that had failed. Put in a second barrier with sheet pile and reattached the 12” tile. Bring on the rain!

JD338