The aftermath of the septic drainline project

[Clipper]

The drain line was finally replaced yesterday. Now comes the tedious job of restoring the area. The blacktop driveway is just a mess where they piled the red clay mud while digging the trench. After all the rain we had the ground around the pipe was soggy and wet. Where they piled the dirt on the driveway is a real mess. We will have to deal with the red clay strip across the driveway until the area settles before we can blacktop the area. The same goes for the trench line all the way to the tank. The backfill is 10 or 12 inches higher than ground level so when it has settled I will have to rake out and spread the excess before I can seed and restore the area again. I will post pictures on my facebook page later. Maybe Ralph will be able to move them here for me. I curse that red clay every day and I have a real mess to clean up.

[BHU]

Seems like there's always something when you're a homeowner. I have about 25ft. of stockage fence that I'm going to have to replace probably this fall, even though the fence belongs to the house behind us. I ripped it out a few weeks ago because it was falling down & I was hoping they'd take the hint & replace it. Nope. There place is a mess, especially there garage which is a dark green color, the paint peeling off & rotted clapboards. So I'm either going to have to do it or look at that eyesore. Today I get to go out & weedeat along the fence line which is overgrown with weeds & vines. I'm sure they'll thank me. Not.

[Clipper]

Thanks Ralph for moving the photos to the forum. Just cleaning up the driveway a bit today. Have to save my energy for bowling tonight, haha.

[Clipper]

I feel your pain BHU. I had a neighbor like that when I lived in Hinckley years ago. I finally started mowing his lawn because it made the entire neighborhood look like crap It was no big chore because I had a rider, but the principle of the thing pissed me off. He was younger than I was and able bodied. Just a lazy ass. When I would mow he would catch me in the driveway a day or so later and holler thank you across the yard. No offer of money for mower gas though. I made up for it in winter. I had a 11 horse snow-blower so I used to clear his driveway and sidewalk while I was doing my own. I didn't do that for free though. I charged him 15 bucks a rattle.

[Deleted]

Wow Clipper that is a mess. You should put a sidewalk in over the place where the pipe goes under the driveway. Or better yet just put crushed stone walkway.

[Clipper]

Well it is going to be a bit more physical labor but it will be filled with concrete. I called around for estimates and some companies didn't want to do a job that small. Another wanted $500 just to lay about 4 inches of blacktop in that trench, hand rake it off, and tamp it. He didn't estimate the sealing of the rest of the driveway. The last guy came by and said for the sealer and the patch job he wanted $2900. They spray the sealer on with a wand attached to a pump and tank on a trailer. Our driveway would take them less than an hour to seal.

I went to Harbor Freight and bought a small electric cement mixer for 200 bucks and I will do it myself with concrete. That little mixer will hold two bags of quickcrete mix. I am in process of putting the mixer together. I was one of those "some assembly required" deals Two hours so far and I am about half done putting it together. One trip to the hardware store for bolts that were missing from the package, and one trip to the auto parts store for a tube of gasket sealer to install the rubber gasket between the two halves of the tub that is required and not included. The frustration got to me and it was 90 in the garage so I wet my t-shirt and a bandana with the hose, wrapped the bandana around my head and mowed the lawn. If I get any more tanned I will have to join the protests telling people that MY black life matters, haha.

[BHU]

We're in standby mode here as far any outdoor chores other then watering/weeding the garden. Temps here are forecast to be 90 & above & humid right up until next Wednesday. We took a ride up to Poland yesterday for some trout fishing in the West Canada. Not a nibble but the weather was great, though I wasen't impressed with the changes made to access the old fishing spot. I guess that's what passes for "progress".

[Clipper]

Sometimes I think they ruin a spot like that by removing the natural aspects of the shore line and sometimes even the bottom of the creek depending on what they do in the name of "improvement." I would rather park and walk across a field or through some woods to get to the water than park in a parking lot and compete with other fisherman casting over the top of your line. I was fishing between Trenton Falls and Rt 28 once before it became an artificial lures only and a trophy stream. Two guys came down and waded out to midstream and started casting with a floating fly line. They were upstream just a little way but were splashing around as thought it was a swimming hole, and they were hollering back and forth loud enough to scare every fish from there to Herkimer. the final straw was when I looked down and his bright yellow floating fly line had swing downstream and was around the leg of my waders. I was in a good mood I guess because I didn't say a word. I just climbed out of the creek and called it a day. When there are a lot of people fishing the creek I usually ended up going to my "go to" spot in Wilmurt, or above the bridge in Noblesboro. There was some big browns in those two places and not too many fisherman. Another favorite spot was on the Moose River below the bridge at McKeever and about 1/4 mile or so downstream. I used to go fishing to be alone and enjoy the peace and quiet and nature.

If you would rather have quality than quantity fishing from Wilmurt upstream to above Noblesboro. Your chances are better of catching something that wasn't swimming in the hatchery a month ago and eating liver pellets.

[Clipper]

Update on the cement mixer assembly debacle. I mowed the lawn and then after supper I went back out to the shop to finish the mixer. There was some of the process that would have gone faster with an extra set of hands to hold things while I bolted them together. It is all together with the exception of the two blades that bolt into the tub to stir the concrete. I didn't have bolts for it. Either I screwed up somewhere or THEY did. Tomorrow morning I will go to the little hardware store down the road and get the bolts and go to Lowes and buy the first 20 bags of ready mix. I want to get a good enough start on the pouring tomorrow to have the half toward the house poured so by Sunday night I should be safe to drive over it with the truck.

[Clipper]

Good morning. I woke up at 5:30 and couldn't get back to sleep thinking about the work I have ahead of me this weekend. 6:45 and I am heading to the shop shortly to manufacture a screed board with a long handle on it so I can screed the concrete without getting down on my fake knees. Then at 7:30 I will be off to the hardware store for the bolts to finish assembly of the mixer.

I am so behind on my many chores that require my attention that I have the boy next door coming over to weed up close and between the plants in the garden so I can run the little tiller between the rows. This clay soil grows weeds just as well as it grows veggies, lol.

I hope to get the concrete work started so that I can get a sizeable bit of it done before mid afternoon when it will hit 90 with a heat index of 93 or so.

Then a hot shower and a shave and we are going to dinner at our favorite Mexican place with a couple that we go out with quite often. Bowling friends of course, haha. That seems to be the extent of our social life in late years.

PS: When they named the gasket sealer "Permatex" the perm definitely stands for permanent. I got that stuff on my hands while sealing the gasket on the mixer tub. I used about 1/2 a bottle of goo gone and I still have some of that brown crap on my fingernails that I will have to scrape and rub with more goo gone. Duh! I have a box of latex gloves right on the workbench and didn't bother to put on a pair.

I hope you all have a good day and enjoy your 4th of July weekend. It is going to be a working weekend for Kathy and I.

[BHU]

Years ago that was one of my favorite fishing spots. I never caught a lot of fish but I enjoyed the solitude. I use to pull in & park on the west side of the bridge on the north side then follow a path down to the creek. Now that area is the entrance to the campground. If I remember correctly it was he same thing on the east side of that bridge. Now it's a private driveway. The state DEC has an access area with parking lot directly across from the campground. We patked there, walk to the creek & fished standing on rip rap strewn under the bridge. We could have accessed my old spot but we didn't feel like walking across100 feet of rip rap carrying all our gear. We found a path worn down by foot traffic & followed it down to the creek. And of course it was a mess from people who have no respect for nature. We finally gave up & went to the DEC access site berween Poland & Newport which was actually well maintained & spent a couple hours there. Needless to stay I will not be returning to my old fishing spot in Poland. They can have their campground.

Clipper, good luck with your concrete project, sorry for the rant & I hope I haven't hijacked your thread. Enjoy your weekend.

[Deleted]

I had to look up screed board since I had no idea what that was. So that is what they call the thing to level the poured concrete for a sidewalk. LOL

[Clipper]

Brother in-law and sister came and helped to dig out the trench and level it at 4 inches deep in prep for the concrete. They dug and I went to Lowes and bought 15 eighty pound bags of concrete mix. That should get me started. By the time I unloaded the s1200 lbs from the truck, wheeled it into the carport, and stacked it on benches off of the ground. Thank goodness my brother in law helped with that chore too. I took them out of the truck and put them in the wheelbarrow, wheeled them to the carport two bags at a time and he unloaded the wheelbarrow and stacked them on the benches. Just handling the 1200 lbs once was enough for me, having handled about half of it while loading at Lowes. They said they would send someone out to load it in my truck. By the time the kid got out there I had half of it loaded already.

We quit at 1:30 for the day when it got close to ninety degrees. My brother in-law is physically fit but he is 68 yrs old and HE is not immune to having a heart attack working in this hot humid weather. Tomorrow is another day.


I am getting old and weak. I used to carry 100 lbs of bagged dairy feed on each shoulder when I delivered feed for Ogden Grain in N. Utica when I first got out of the navy. I would line them up across the tailboard of the truck and then back up to the truck and simply tilt the bags onto my shoulders, walk to the barn and stack them.

Time to jump in the rain locker and wash the stink off before we go to dinner with friends. When we get home I will be ready to climb in the recliner and relax before bed.

[BHU]

Your right Clipper, tomorrow is another day. Good you got a start on that project & some help. Enjoy dinner.

[Clipper]

The weekend project took it's toll. Walking around on the blacktop driveway and wheeling wheelbarrow loads of concrete was too much for my old feet I guess. I woke up yesterday with plantar fasciitis in my left foot and could hardly walk. I seem to be prone to the fasciitis. I had it before and had to have painful steroid shots in the arch of my foot and wear a boot splint for a month or so. It seems to be better this morning so I will just stay off my feet as much as I can and hope it passes. I have to go to cardiac rehab today. We will see if I can still do the 40 minutes on the recumbent elliptical thing or if I will have to do something different to accomplish the necessary cardiac workout. I sure as hell wouldn't be able to walk on a treadmill.

Come Friday we start the concrete project all over again. This time I am buying the mix in 50 lb bags and will have to make two trips to Lowes for about 2400lbs total. I can take back whatever we don't use. The 80lb bags were quite cumbersome and hard to handle and dump in the wheelbarrow.

I wore an old pair of shoes that I didn't care about if they got ruined. I will wear a pair of rubber boots that I wear to work in the garden this time around. A bit harder to walk in, but have good arch support.

I have dirt to move also, but there is no way I can step on a shovel to dig into the pile with the sore foot, nor would I be able to stand on the one sore foot while I stepped on the shovel with the good foot. I am getting too old for this crap. When this project is done I really need to assess projects before I start and decide if I am physically capable of accomplishing the tasks anymore. It is becoming very frustrating for a person that loves that kind of work and likes to stay busy. I guess there comes a time when we have to admit we are no longer physically capable of difficult and strenuous tasks.