building for our future

Late last week we received our approval from the county department of health for the septic system updates. In a nutshell, our existing “system” is just fine, but we need to add two additional trenches to the pressure dose field “up on the hill”. (The existing three laterals need to be re-piped to maintain the precise flow of effluent into the underground sand trenches) So, we now have everything we need to go to the township for our building permits...err...except our plans. The death of a close friend to our architect resulted in a bit of a workload backup on their end. Hopefully, we’ll have what we need shortly to go for our permits and get this show on the road.

Over the weekend, I also got the last little bit of “homeowner site preparation” completed...moving a 20' dogwood tree. I already reluctantly sacrificed a much larger flowering “some kind of ornamental fruit” tree to the chainsaw, but really wanted to save this mature (and healthy) dogwood. The larger tree would have cost over a grand to have professionally moved and it just wasn't money I wanted to spend. The smaller dogwood at least had a chance to be moved...by me...and my little orange power tool.

Early in the winter, I trenched around the tree with the backhoe to allow it to get used to a smaller root ball as it moved into dormancy...well, I guess there was no dormancy this winter, but you know what my intention was, at least. The tree remained healthy and actually has many buds for flowering this spring.

I unfortunately didn’t get pictures of “the extraction”, but it consisted of re-trenching with the backhoe and removing earth to have a ramp down to the level below the bottom of the root ball, moving it around with the tractor a little to get any “uninvolved” earth off to save weight, maneuvering the tree onto the carry-all, removing the backhoe from the machine, reinstalling the 3-pt hardware and then hooking up to the carry-all already holding “the burden”. That last step happened twice as I forgot to fill the bucket with stone the first time and it was “wheelie city”. Honestly, this tree was pushing the outer limits of what the tractor could handle...and that 3-pt can lift 1000 lbs. by spec. Without about 400 lbs of stone in the bucket, the balance was way off, however.

At that point, I remembered the need for pictures and had Alison follow along, both to witness my death along the way, and to help a little if I made it to the nice hole I already dug to receive the tree. I started down the “old” driveway first (the shorter route), but she kindly pointed out that the electric, telephone and cable wires might object to the tree trying to move them ...so I, um, turned around. (Yes, I do do what the she says to do...) In the picture, I'm already headed back to go around the “long way”...the tree came out of that dirt area on the right. (The white dots kinda show how tall this thing is)


Pleasantly, the drive wasn't too bad and I made it to the front lawn with the tractor still upright. (I’m being humorous here...I didn’t feel unsafe or unstable as the center of gravity was very low both front and back)

Once at the hole, it was time to do a little magic and get the tree off the carry-all and into the hole. Gravity was the tool of choice.

Of course, untying it first helps...with supervision...

From that point, the tree was in the hole, but it was necessary to rotate the tree a little for “best presentation” (it took two of us to do this and at the bitter end, I exerted a little anti-gravity with the bucket to make the spin go easier) and then back fill the hole. A little later, a nice big drink in the big orange diesel powered cup arrived.


Hopefully, this tree will remain happy (and alive) in its new home! And thank you to the folks at Kubota who put a lot of gumption in the BX series of sub-compact tractors. Some of the jobs I've tackled with this in the last year have been way more than I ever thought it would handle...