Tractor Thread

[sarge]

All this talk about British sport cars brings back fond memories...

Ah yes! Great days never to return.

Tony:

I don't know about " return", but perhaps they can be expanded upon!

Why wait to get buried in it (and waste a perfectly good Spridget )?

Get one now and have a blast doing what you remember. If you are local to me (or Healey, if I might sell his soul up the river without asking) I'd be happy to help you find one...

[The Dirt]

Hey Pete, how many of those varmint carcasses do you think got raked up into the baler?

Healey, those pictures were taken last summer. The leftovers from this year's haul are stripped completely and utterly clean, a tribute to the efficiency of the local scavengers. But the bones could certainly get swept up, but that's the nature of things. Ray gets 200 small bales every year... me and the kids help stack them in the loft. Never saw any mammals, but I have seen a snake wrapped up. Ray has seen a fawn too, but it must have been killed in the mowing rather than the baling. Wouldn't want to come across something like that.

Now I've routed snakes while mowing, including a black snake who took off across the open field rather than the unmown deep stuff. At the end of the 'run' was one of a couple of wooden poles that bring our power across the field, and there had been a hawk sitting there watching, including while I drove all but underneath him. Surprising tolerance, but I suppose having gauged my speed and predictability, he knew I was no threat. But when I circled around, he had nailed the black snake, and I watched him carry it to an exposed branch on a tall oak at the edge of the field. Photo-op! I shut down the mower and put the tractor in road-gear and high-tailed it to the house, but when I got back, dang, he had moved on. Now all I have is the story.

There was a red fox also working the field, apart from me, maybe for the mice and voles I had stirred up, but he took off when I made the run for the camera, but who's going to believe me about that? No picture.

But it's a big event in the neighborhood when I mow. Besides the swallows that follow my progress in a halo around the tractor, crows and blackbirds aplenty scour the mowed field, (on which they can now walk), for goodies to their own taste, lifting and circling to get behind me on every pass.

The voles and mice are comical. The voles waddle as fast as their little legs will carry them, while the mice make insanely frantic, huge leaps to safety. I got nothing against them, don't mind their holes, and I do my best to avoid them.


Healey, I feel stupid, now. I thought the bricks on the lower right of your picture was the new patio(?) going in. Why the concrete slab? Were the bricks settling unevenly? I'll follow your progress as I plan my own sidewalk.

[The Dirt]

As soon as I get my 31 A coupe reassembled with the new steering box and on the road again I plan on getting my International 8-16, 1918 vintage, put back into running shape after completely rendering the garage unusable for 3 years. My! How time flies.

Pictures, bro?

[The Dirt]

I sorely miss old Hev. Being at R&T without Hev holding court just isn't right. There is a big hole there. Maybe those who have met him and live within a couple hours drive could congregate this fall at his spot and raise a few in his honor? It seems only fitting. Assuming Mrs. Hev approves. Pete?

I miss him too, Tony. I miss him too.

It's Hev's birthday tomorrow, 6/3. It would be nice for Patty if anyone can make a remark here, or on their Facebook page, which can be found under 'Hev Burkholder'. I talked to her today, and while she's one tough woman, this one is giving her trouble. She DID ask me to tell everyone here that she is appreciative in the extreme for all the kind sentiments.

This forum at it's finest. And, she would approve.

[rogruth]

As I have said, I only met Hev once in person.

He was, IMPO, a very nice person with a very patient wife.
Patty sat and waited for Hev and I to talk for @ two hours.
There has been a large gap in the MTJ forum for sometime.

Must stop. Happy birthday Hev.

[sarge]

Hev, mate. The drinks trolley squeaks for thee this day.

Here's to you, wherever you are.

Patty, we're with you dear lady!

[healey36]

It has been a very long time since I've been out on a field...I had forgotten about the swallows that suddenly appear overhead and astern of the mower, presumably enjoying the clouds of insects thrown aloft. I enjoy the pictures, Pete, especially those with the next ridge forming the backdrop.

So, the patio... I built it back in 1987, basically a 16X32 foot box terraced into the slight slope behind the house. The timbers are pressure-treated 6X6's. I filled it with crushed stone, followed by three or four inches of sand. I laid the bricks on top of the sand, flush with the top of the timbers, and dry-mortared them in.

During the intervening twenty-eight years the brick surface settled roughly three or four inches below the top of the timbers. I suspect this was due to (1) I did a lousy job of tamping the stone/sand to get a good tight base before laying the brick, and (2) as the terrace is virtually flat, water just percolated down through the bricks gradually loosening/eroding the base.

The settlement really bugged me, so I decided to take the bricks up, refill the box and then re-lay the bricks. I was thinking I might pour a three-four inch concrete slab on top of the tamped stone/sand to provide a firmer base for the bricks, but I'd still have the drainage problem.

Still pondering...suggestions welcome.

Happy birthday to Hev...I'm sure he's looking down at us with a big grin.

Healey

[Tramp]

When you miss people you've really liked, it never changes, the sense of them and your feelings remain the same. Maybe the pain of the loss recedes a bit, but they are still as vivid in your mind and heart. Today I will raise my glass to Hev. Cheers, my departed friend! And to you, Patty, I'll be thinking of you as well.

[sarge]

Healey:

Might I humbly suggest renting a tamper, tamping the soil (which should be nothing but effing clay there), then a 6" bed of "crusher run" rather than the peagravel-in-a-bag from the B&Q err sorry Home Despot. Crusher run is the dusty leavings with little bits; moistened and tamped should give a nice tight bed that still will be compliant enough to heave with the frost then settle tightly with the first wettings of spring.

I fear concrete will break up in the frost cycle if it is an underlayment.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I fear concrete will break up in the frost cycle if it is an underlayment.

Concur.

[healey36]

At the leading edge I've got ~ eight inches of crusher-run and ~ four inches of sand, all inadequately tamped down twenty-eight years ago (I think that's what I'm hearing). The soil underneath is hard clay, as Sarge described. It sounds like I need to get a few more tons of crusher-run dumped and tamped...ugh...

I wonder if Percy Hambly and his machine are still available?:



I think I'm going to divide it up into three sections with an 8X8 divider...than I can tackle each section separately.

Healey

[The Dirt]

Healey, I helped my son put in a walk of flat Pennsylvania bluestone we picked off a mountain side. As was advised to me at the time, (and I cannot remember the exact proportions), we dug down some 12-16 inches, filled 8-10 with rock the size of Google-images "crusher-run" and tamped it with a machine, then some 3-4 inches of what is called "limestone screenings", chipped-stuff a centimeter or less, and then we tamped that. The sand was last, but only enough to be able to set the bluestone and level them despite their imperfections. I would think you'd want to limit the thickness of the sand, which would be the 'shift-ious' of the minerals. Once the stones were set, we then put white sand between the stones and then used a broom.

He lived near a quarry, and had a pick-up. I don't, and I don't. I know I should do all that with my walkway, but I've also been told that since the fake-brick blocks have been in place for 25 years, that I "don't need to do all that"'. I assume that's bad advice, but it suits me, so I'm still deciding if I'm going to listen to it. But for that matter, old as I am, it'll be my kids that have to do any repairs down the line.

I agree that the concrete slab will split, unless you put joints in it, but then they'll tilt, respective to each other.
I have clay soil, all the good dirt having washed into the valley over the millenia. I've spread rock on my driveway, twice, and over 3-4 years, it all sinks into the muck.

[sarge]

Healey:

I'm betting sand is a problem. It never takes a set and is only useful as an aggregate mixed with something else. It retains water if covered (so frost is an issue for sand-beds covered in brick or pavers).

It is fine for a dry grouting between the bricks for it dries quickly uncovered. When dry though, sand flows and doesn't compress (odd stuff, sand). It makes a lousy bedding, so best used very sparingly.

[healey36]

Based on what you guys have recommended, it sounds like I have too much sand and not enough crusher-run. I will have to shovel a lot of sand out of the box and replace it with additional crusher-run/fine stone, then a thin layer of sand for leveling purposes. Sounds do-able.

One last question...I was planning to mortar the bricks in. Do you think that's a bonehead move? I like the look of the mortar joints...

Healey

[sarge]

Not on a packed bed. Sweep some sand in the joints so things can move.

You ain't in Florida mate, so compliance from frozen to sweltering is your friend.