Finally Starting on the Berm

[BrokenolMarine]

I need to get with my mechanic now and get a load of tires up here and start filling them. I still want to do the layers of tires for the base.
Work Work Work. (What movie?)

[MuddyWaters62]

Blazing Saddles. I believe he played the Governor I'm not sure of his buxom blonde's name. One of my favorite comedies.
Let's not forget beatnic Maynard on "The Dobie Gillis Show". WWW...WORRK!!

Muddy Waters68

[BrokenolMarine]

Tina called to have a load of Limestone delivered for the Stalls, and they have Fill Dirt. So they will have two dumps headed our way tomorrow. One filled with Limestone for the stalls, and one filled with Dirt for my berm. With what we already have piled up here, and a tandem dump full, I should be able to at least get enough berm in the center to start shooting.

If I need more for the wings, I'll order it NEXT payday.

[BrokenolMarine]

My neighbor got his tractor back and came over with the auger this morning while it was still cool, what a labor saver. We managed to get the eight holes dug in an hour. We'll set the bracing poles in behind the berm wall in the cool of the morning tomorrow. We dug two behind each of the three main portions of the wall, and one each on the last two half wall wings.

Labor saver:

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A view of the holes:

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Miss T had to run out and get feed, so she picked up 16 bags of quickcrete, we'll put two bags in each 3-1/2 foot deep 9" hole, to handle the pressure of the dirt berm as it settles against the wall. Then we can start moving the dirt and creating the impact berm. I can't wait.

[dave77]

Looks like you have pretty rock free soil. Don't know if one of those would work on my property, I have lots of rocks, small and large. I've had post holes that have taken me a couple of hours to dig with a shovel.

[BrokenolMarine]

Out at 630 this morning before the heat, and placed the support posts and concrete so I can start moving dirt into place for the berm. It was actually fairly simple to put the concrete in place, I drove the tractor into position with the pallet over the hole and slit a bag and let the concrete run into the hole, mixed the water and concrete in the hole. Not going for a finish here, just weight to anchor the pole. Two bags, 160 pounds per hole. Shouldn't move. Two poles per section except on the half walls. One centered.

Here is a view of the main section after the concrete was set in the holes.

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A view from the left, IF you were looking downrange.... Yup, the one wall leans a bit, but it shouldn't take much pressure, I don't intend to pile dirt against the wings anyway. They are there for lead splashes.

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Here are two 13 ton piles awaiting attention of the bucket...
Dirt for the range berm and limestone screening for the cowbarn.

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Guess those will be early morning / late evening jobs, as the mid day temps are supposed to easily pass 100 degrees.
The range work would be in the shade, but working the barn will be in the beating sun...

[BrokenolMarine]

Out this morning in the cool temps and shade to clean up the random piles we had dropped in the U and dress up the ground there. Took some patience to get er done, but got that prep work out of the way.

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Once I knocked that out, I started the trips back and forth up the hill to the 13 ton pile. This isn't as easy as it seems, because a tractor with a heavy bucket can be a ticket to getting "rolled." I kept in mind all the things MISS T had beaten into my thick Marine skull and all the YouTube safety videos I had watched and never once felt the tractor get squirrelly. I worked on the pile for about an hour, hour and a half. Miss T was mixing small amounts of quickcrete and after rolling and stuffing the yesterday's empty quickcrete bags down the tops of the bracing pipes to form a plug, was putting four to six inches of crete in the pipes and forming a rounded top to prevent water from getting inside and pooling in the bottom and rusting them out from the inside.

There is still a lot of Dirt in the pile up the hill, but the sun had come up with a vengeance and the boss had finished her task. NO time limit on moving the dirt. I can move more in the evening and the mornings to follow. Nice start.

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I will work from the center of the berm wall up and out to the sides and then around to form the u-shaped berm. Most important is the center impact area. I have that fill that was delivered and a second pile that came from cleaning up the pond edges when the water was down. If need be we can order another load later. But, we have a start.

[Hatchdog]

Out this morning in the cool temps and shade to clean up the random piles we had dropped in the U and dress up the ground there. Took some patience to get er done, but got that prep work out of the way.


random piles.jpg


Once I knocked that out, I started the trips back and forth up the hill to the 13 ton pile. This isn't as easy as it seems, because a tractor with a heavy bucket can be a ticket to getting "rolled." I kept in mind all the things MISS T had beaten into my thick Marine skull and all the YouTube safety videos I had watched and never once felt the tractor get squirrelly. I worked on the pile for about an hour, hour and a half. Miss T was mixing small amounts of quickcrete and after rolling and stuffing the yesterday's empty quickcrete bags down the tops of the bracing pipes to form a plug, was putting four to six inches of crete in the pipes and forming a rounded top to prevent water from getting inside and pooling in the bottom and rusting them out from the inside.

There is still a lot of Dirt in the pile up the hill, but the sun had come up with a vengeance and the boss had finished her task. NO time limit on moving the dirt. I can move more in the evening and the mornings to follow. Nice start.


moved and added.jpg


I will work from the center of the berm wall up and out to the sides and then around to form the u-shaped berm. Most important is the center impact area. I have that fill that was delivered and a second pile that came from cleaning up the pond edges when the water was down. If need be we can order another load later. But, we have a start.

Clever, very clever.

[BrokenolMarine]

She is very clever, but the neighbor who brought the auger over suggested using the bags. He has eighty acres and 100 cows, is a welder, and related to half the people in the surrounding communities. Let's just say he has put up a lot of pipe fencing. It's popular in oil country... The pipe used to be really cheap, discarded from drilling operations.

Miss T was going to use newspaper, Martin told her he usually just rolls the bags and sticks them in the pipes as he goes.

[BrokenolMarine]

Got out again this morning. Perfect weather at 630am. Cool in the shade and the sun was up enough for good light but still not hot. I got the tractor and got started. Worked for about two hours before the sun broke free, and then it was like someone switched on the broiler. Every time I broke free of the shaded areas, it was like a twenty degree difference, and climbing. I put the tractor away, and will finish later. I made a good bit of progress since yesterday.

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Here is the view from about 25 yards. I say about because someone, I won't name names. (Cough Miss Tina, Cough) Mowed down the driveway markers I had used to mark the measured distances when She, Um, I mean they were bush hogging the wooded areas and the range lane. Far be it from me to complain when someone does me a favor.

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This would be the view from about 80 yards... I say about... oh, Wait.... see above.

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Two days of work on the dirt berm has made a nice dent in the dump truck pile. I should be able to knock er out tomorrow if we don't get rain.

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If so, I'll start on the pile out by the pond. It's almost the size of the dump load.
While I was working, the contractor showed up in the 60 acre hay field. He had the enclosed airconditioned cab and was cutting the hay.

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We are always glad to see the hay go about this time. It is usually waist high at least, and brings to mind a couple movies. Jurassic Park and the Raptors zipping thru the grass to leap on the folks ... or Ghosts in the Darkness with Val Kilmer, and the lions in the tall grass, stealing folks and dragging them off. There are coyotes in the tall grass, several packs of them live on the 60 acres and we hear them calling at night. They used to sneak out at night, Like Ghosts in the Darkness and try and steal chickens. We had to reinforce the coop to stop it.


Nowhere to hide now. Hard to sneak.

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He will get a lot of hay from that 60 acres. I love the look of the round bales standing sentinel in the fields. I had that puzzle years ago. Always liked it. Now I live next to it, and had it in my own fields as well. How redneck is that?

[fortyshooter]

That berm is looking good! Good to have some heavy equipment that you can use anytime. What about the trees inside the target area...will you cut those down?

[BrokenolMarine]

That berm is looking good! Good to have some heavy equipment that you can use anytime. What about the trees inside the target area...will you cut those down?

Fifteen years ago, I would have. I would now, I know how and have the equipment to do the job safely, but miss t would have a stroke. If I torque (twist) the erector set right femor wrong, it could explode. (According to three surgeons). There are thirteen screws passing thru it, holding the reinforcing plate in place. If I tried to move out of the way of the falling tree if it went unexpectedly, I could apply that torque. That would be a bad thing.

My plan would be to tie onto the tree up high on the side I want it to fall toward. I would run the rope in that direction, thru a pulley, then off ninety degrees and out as far as the tree is tall, plus thirty or forty yards. That last thirty yards would be winch cable from the UTV. (Slack)

I'd cut my notch on the fall side.

Then put tension on the ropes by adjusting them, taking out the slack.

I'd start my back cut, down at an angle. Not going all the way thru yet.

Put tension on the hoist until I see the top of the tree move in the direction of the fall. Wait for all sway (if any) to stop.

Continue the back cut, not yet all the way thru.

Add more hoist tension. Wait for sway to stop, all the while, listen for telltale creaking from the cut. Repeat this procedure until the tree starts to fall. Leaving the sliver controls the trunk and helps eliminate kickback. I used this all over the farm in VA, and had controlled drops with every one.

I never dropped near buildings or powerlines. I paid to have those dropped. I didn't drop bigger than my saw or my control lines could handle. EGO was not an issue. One friend had one get away and dropped it on his truck. Another dropped one on his porch. Yup, see above... I don't drop near structures.

Of course, now I don't drop at ALL.

We had someone scheduled to remove them months ago. He was going to "Be out next week." ( ...and the checks's in the mail.). They won't bother me for now. IF I eventually get someone out... Yes, I'll remove them. Sigh.

[BrokenolMarine]

... Or, I'll get PO'd and drop them, gimpy or not.
"No, Miss T" shake my head, "I would never. The wind. Yeah, yeah, that's the ticket. The wind blew them down, and they broke apart."

[cooperhawk]

Enough bullets will drop most anything.

[dave77]

I've always wondered if this guy is very, very good or very, very lucky or maybe both good and lucky.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYrNXVdZq7Y

[BrokenolMarine]

I've always wondered if this guy is very, very good or very, very lucky or maybe both good and lucky.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYrNXVdZq7Y

I have seen the full length video, and others of his years ago. He is VERY Good.

[BrokenolMarine]

Didn't get out this morning, while it was in the low 70s. Miss T had ordered a window for the Feed Room for the new barn. Guess what was number one on the Honey Do list this morning. Knocked 'er out in about an hour, but that small feed room was HOT. It cooled a bit this afternoon, and 90% of the working area was in the shade, so I got busy.

This is what's left of the 13 tons of Fill....

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Sheesh, when your wheelbarrow and shovel are diesel powered, you can MOVE some dirt.
The combined dirt from what was there and that dump load makes a good start on the berm. I can shoot into this to start off, but I have another pile I can be moving as well.

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A view from 25 yards. Yup, it'll be a narrow lane, but I won't be doing much competitive shooting or holding matches. This will work fine until I find someone who wants to earn a few bucks and will show up. Then the trees can come down. They can take them for firewood, or just limb and stack them and let them provide natural homes for nature.

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I'll start on the other pile in the next day or so. Miss T will soon be working on the Limestone, when we get the gates in.
That hay field... they cut, raked, and baled in one day. They started loading the bales first light this morning and they were done this evening. With hay so scarce, I think they were afraid to leave the bales on the field.

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Gives us a clear view across the field for the next month or so. No hiding places for the yotes except the low spots in the woods and around the ponds on the sixty acres. But they can't low crawl thru the grass any more for a while. We don't have anything loose they can DARE sneak up on. The cows will stomp them into a puddle.

[BrokenolMarine]

After knocking out the 13 ton dump load yesterday, it was time to start on the pile that Miss T set aside when she cleaned out the pond edge last year. It's a bit farther away, and my plan is to drop it Over the berm wall from the back. Here is a view of the distance of the pile from the pond road. You should be able to pick out the pile from the clutter in the background, I have tried to make it easier to see.

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Maybe a bit closer look using the zoom... It might not look it, blending in covered in grass. But there is a lot of dirt there.

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I got started... same old boring routine. Back and forth, back and forth. It helped that I had an enthusiastic cheering section... Whoop whoop!

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Working carefully, I dropped a dozen loads or so over the back wall and a couple over one side wall. It was a slow start, but the pile sat in the hot Oklahoma Sun for a year. I broke it loose in the one area, but the rest is like concrete. I may try using the hay spike like an ice pick in the morning when it's cooler, but if that doesn't work, might have to wait until we get a nice hard long rain. It was a slow start, but it was a start.

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I did manage to back fill the work from the past three days.

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What I have now is an impact area. I "could" shoot into this. If I can't do any more work with the pond pile for a while, I just might.

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[BrokenolMarine]

After a long time working on the range, I went down yesterday and staked the 300 foot tape measure to the range and marked the yardage. I found I have 95 yards available if I back up past the range house to the fence at the edge of the pasture. I need to trim some overhanging branches back that far. I'll still need to drop a couple of the trees in the shooting lane for longer ranges but for the most part I can start shooting now. I have about twenty tons of dirt in the berm. I'll add another ten to fifteen when we get some rain and can break up the piles that have turned to concrete in the triple digit heat.

A view down range:

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A view up range toward the range house:

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That view 95 yards from the fence line, down beside the range house to the berm.... yes, I need to trim.

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at fifty yards:

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Twenty Five yards

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and at 7 yards:

7m.jpg[/attachment [attachment=0]7b.jpg

When I marked the range, I actually marked at 3, 7, 10, 15, 25, 30 and then every ten back to 95.
Never know what you'll want to try, and why get the tape out again?

[fortyshooter]

Time for a break and hang some steel or targets and have some shootin' fun! You got a plenty dirt there to stop most anything.
Still way too hot and humid for my shooting around here. I was down there late this morning just to cut grass and git!
Looks like you will have a great ol' time on your range....great job!