BigE_
Platinum Member
OK, here's the background:
The wife was out shopping about a month ago, sees one of these above ground pools at Fred Meyers, on sale for $150. 15' wide, comes with a filter, pump, cover, ladder, etc. Sounds like a decent deal, right? Not to mention that the weather is starting to get a bit warm.
So, she brings it home and asks me to set it up. I'm reading online how to set this pool up, and everyone is saying to make sure the ground is level. OK, I live on a hillside -- nothing is level. Not to worry says she - you have a box thingy on your tractor - just level the ground.
Well, the area the wife wanted for the pool was nowhere near an outlet (recall the included pump) and even further away from a water spigot. I walked around the house a few times and finally came up with a place that looked like it might work. It's about 8' feet away from the house, so not too close, and about 20' and 40' away from water and power, respectively.
I hooked up the boxblade, and started scraping away at the ground. I got out the level, and scraped some more. I finally got close to what I thought was level, and checked it out with the level again. At this point I was down 4-5" below grade on the side closest to the house. I still needed to come down another 4" on the house side to get level. This was getting too deep for my liking, especially considering the gutter drain pipes are buried in this area.
So, my next step was to start in on a retaining wall, and bring in some fill dirt. I checked online on Craigslist and found a bunch of places that had free fill dirt, but everyone said bring a shovel. I needed about 50 cu ft.... So, I found a place on my property that had a bit too much dirt, and proceeded with moving it (after clearing and chipping the brush and downed trees on top of it).
Loading up the trailer with the backhoe.
Another loading pic
Getting ready to dump the third load.
Dumping the third load.
I did a total of 6 loads, with each load being a little more than 10 cubic feet. If I do my math right, that's about 7 yards, give or take.
The wife was out shopping about a month ago, sees one of these above ground pools at Fred Meyers, on sale for $150. 15' wide, comes with a filter, pump, cover, ladder, etc. Sounds like a decent deal, right? Not to mention that the weather is starting to get a bit warm.
So, she brings it home and asks me to set it up. I'm reading online how to set this pool up, and everyone is saying to make sure the ground is level. OK, I live on a hillside -- nothing is level. Not to worry says she - you have a box thingy on your tractor - just level the ground.
Well, the area the wife wanted for the pool was nowhere near an outlet (recall the included pump) and even further away from a water spigot. I walked around the house a few times and finally came up with a place that looked like it might work. It's about 8' feet away from the house, so not too close, and about 20' and 40' away from water and power, respectively.
I hooked up the boxblade, and started scraping away at the ground. I got out the level, and scraped some more. I finally got close to what I thought was level, and checked it out with the level again. At this point I was down 4-5" below grade on the side closest to the house. I still needed to come down another 4" on the house side to get level. This was getting too deep for my liking, especially considering the gutter drain pipes are buried in this area.
So, my next step was to start in on a retaining wall, and bring in some fill dirt. I checked online on Craigslist and found a bunch of places that had free fill dirt, but everyone said bring a shovel. I needed about 50 cu ft.... So, I found a place on my property that had a bit too much dirt, and proceeded with moving it (after clearing and chipping the brush and downed trees on top of it).

Loading up the trailer with the backhoe.

Another loading pic

Getting ready to dump the third load.

Dumping the third load.
I did a total of 6 loads, with each load being a little more than 10 cubic feet. If I do my math right, that's about 7 yards, give or take.
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