Beauty!
What is the strangest request for service you ever got a call for?
- Thread starter pdqdl
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Beauty!
I had a neighbor ask if I would dig a new hole for his outhouse. I said "Sure, no problem" before I had scoped where it was located. I made sure to let him know that the dip and curl of the 410j backhoe was going to be at least 4 1/2' so he was going to make up different framing for the 4' footprint of the outhouse base. But when I got there with the hoe I realized the trail to the outhouse was barely 8' wide with mature oaks and ash on the uphill side and a 15' steep drop off into the creek on the other. No other way around. I was having nightmare daydreams of the path caving into the creek bottom with the 20k# rig at the bottom. I'm not sure how the machine could be recovered.
I swung the hoe as far as I could to the uphill side and got to the spot, strapped the outhouse to the bucket and set it aside. All good. I started digging out the new pit and dropping the fill into the old pit. I was hitting something. Trying not to make the hole bigger was impossible for what was: a 20"+ diameter boulder and it sure the heck wasn't basalt. And of course it wasn't in the middle. In the end it was a 6'+ square hole 5' deep. When I set the outhouse on the expanded frame it broke one of the green treated 6x6s from Home Depot. He was supposed to use RR ties....
I got the hoe out and am still obviously alive. A favor for a neighbor can be one of the biggest mistakes.
I swung the hoe as far as I could to the uphill side and got to the spot, strapped the outhouse to the bucket and set it aside. All good. I started digging out the new pit and dropping the fill into the old pit. I was hitting something. Trying not to make the hole bigger was impossible for what was: a 20"+ diameter boulder and it sure the heck wasn't basalt. And of course it wasn't in the middle. In the end it was a 6'+ square hole 5' deep. When I set the outhouse on the expanded frame it broke one of the green treated 6x6s from Home Depot. He was supposed to use RR ties....
I got the hoe out and am still obviously alive. A favor for a neighbor can be one of the biggest mistakes.
Did you ever return to test the efficiency of your out-hole?
Inquiring minds want to know!
Inquiring minds want to know!
Had to bury a dead horse
Fun!
With shovel, or digging equipment? On location, or did you have to load or drag the horse to the hole?
When I was 16, I was asked to help the dead-animal disposal guy haul off a dead horse at the stable where I was working. He had a dump truck with a large capstan rope winch mounted on the headboard of the dump bed. He just put a rope around the horse's head and reeled it up into the bed. Fast and easy. I was concerned he might rip off the head, but it didn't work out that way.
With shovel, or digging equipment? On location, or did you have to load or drag the horse to the hole?
When I was 16, I was asked to help the dead-animal disposal guy haul off a dead horse at the stable where I was working. He had a dump truck with a large capstan rope winch mounted on the headboard of the dump bed. He just put a rope around the horse's head and reeled it up into the bed. Fast and easy. I was concerned he might rip off the head, but it didn't work out that way.
