Multiple Major Projects

Whew, Dave has been busy with several major projects.  He has been working hard for the past couple of weeks preparing the site for the dome.   After stripping the topsoil he had several huge piles of topsoil.  Since the south side of the new show jumping arena drops off significantly Dave hauled numerous loads of topsoil to the show jumping ring.  The borrowed dump trailer couldn't manage to dump a full load  so it took almost twice as many trips to get enough topsoil to build up a berm.  But the time and effort will be well worth it when we get the first BIG rain and the footing doesn't get washed away.

Now it was time to get the ring finished.  The drainage trenches that Dave dug in the middle of the winter sometime were now pushed back and Dave did a final rough grading before Dave Frey came out with the the magic machine; the lazer grader.  A really slick machine that uses a lazer level to adjust the grader.  My Dave had done a pretty good job with the rough grading that it only took Dave Frey about and hour and a half to finish the job ;)  Over the weekend Dave Frey came back with a vibrating roller to compact the base.  This week we get the sand and except for building the banks and landscaping the arena will be done.

The Berm

The Lazer Grader

Dave & Dave riding the vibrating roller

Looking from the NW corner to the SE.  Last pic before the sand!!

 Speaking of the banks (which will be used for the NEW Jumper Derby in Oct) there will be a two smaller banks at the east end of the ring, a one stride step up for Training in the middle and bounce banks on the west end.  I had wanted the one stride to come into the ring about 12' so you could also go up and across the bank.  Dave was adamantly against it until he discovered that the pesky little wet spot was actually a spring!  He put a tile in and it's doing a good job of taking the water away, but he decided that putting a bank on top of it might be a better solution ;)  Since Dave has to return the dump trailer soon and he has a lot of subsoil to get ride of, he spent the afternoon hauling dirt to where we're going to need fill for the banks.  I have no idea if those are going to be done before the event or not but at least the fill dirt will be there when we're ready ;)

As you may recall, we put in a tile line to help dry out the area near the ditches.  To further improve the footing in the area Dave brought over some topsoil to bring up the ground even more.  Unfortunately the top soil was loaded with stones which took a few hours to pick up.  I felt like I was cleaning a giant outdoor stall picking out stones with a pitchfork!

The sand will be delivered this week and Dave hopefully will  finish prepping the site for the dome wall so that can get poured the end of the month and between all of that we have a horse trials to get ready for ;)

Prepping the dome site by digging the subsoil and moving it down the hill to level the area

Stay tuned for more details on these and other projects on the farm.

Jackie

Site Prep for the "Dome"

The mild winter and early spring has us a little ahead of schedule on the "dome" project.  For those who are unfamiliar with the "dome" project; it's basically it's a 100' diameter fiberglass water treatment plant top that we bought last fall to make into a large covered round pen.  The only catch is we need a 10' cement wall to mount the dome to.

Dave has contacted several contractors and the cost of the cement wall was quite a bit more expensive than we had anticipated but when we got a bid for several thousand dollars less we decided we better jump on it before the price goes up. The contractors came out last week to check out the site and the dome and said that they could pour the wall by the end of April. Since the weather has been cooperative and it's going to be a major earth moving job; Dave started preparing the site this weekend.  The east end of the site has be lowered and have that dirt pushed to the west side to get the entire area level.  But before beginning to level the ground Dave had to strip all the top soil and pile it out of the way..

Sadie playing queen of the mountain ;)

Feb Farm Projects

          Tile trench to the east of the ditches                 

It's hard to believe that we have been able to get outdoor farm projects done this time of year.  The first weekend in Feb found Dave digging a trench and laying a tile line by the ditches to help keep the ground in better condition no matter the weather and prepares a site for a new Beginner Novice ditch.  That ditch won't be ready until the fall event because we have to level off some ground and push that down to the low spot in front of the Novice and Training ditches and we don't want all that fresh dirt before Winona.  By pushing some dirt into the low spot combined with the drain tile; the footing should be pretty high and  dry.

Draining the ditch jumps and the site of the new Beg Novice ditch

When Dave was done with the tile line he took his min excavator back to the woods to dig some drainage ditches in four of the wet spots and laying 10" clay culverts to essentially make dirt bridges over the wet spots.  I''m glad Kevin was home to help because those culverts were pretty heavy.  The plan is to let things dry out and do the final grading this spring so they will good to go for the spring Hunter Pace. The following pictures show Kevin & Dave setting one of the clay culverts, the excavator giving the culverts (2 -3 150lb culvert) a gentle nudge ti get them in  place, and a look at the whole Dave had to dig to get enough dirt to mound up over a low wet spot we haven't been able to use in years.

The second weekend as cold and snowy but the third weekend, although a bit chilly was good and dry so Dave got the mini excavator out again but this time it was to transplant some trees and bushes.  We planted 4 trees back by the new stadium area so spectators can have a shady place to watch the show jumping or clinics.  I'm afraid they won't provide much shade this season, but hopefully it won't be too long before they are producing enough shade.  As you can see; I am being very optimistic about the weather, plenty of sun.  The way I look at it; we paid our dues with the wet weather last year and we should have good weather this year :)

In addition to the trees, we had to replace two of the tall bushes next to the water jump.  These bushes are a little smaller and in better condition than the ones we transplanted last year so hopefully these will make

it.                                                                                                       

Next on the list is aerating the dressage warm up.  The ground has dried enough to get a tractor on it without making a mess and it will allow the spring rains soak in a little better. Here's hoping that we have normal spring rains this year.  That's it for now.  I hope you all have been enjoying the nice weather we have been having this winter.

Jackie

New On-line Forms for Clinics and Competitions

I have been working forms that you can fill out and submit on line as well as the option of paying on line.  I am hoping that you will take advantage of using these forms as it will not only hopefully will be more convenient for you but it will streamline that data entry for me as well.

Check out forms and the online payment forms on the Camps and Clinics page and the  Competitors' Corner.

New Arena Update

All the rain this fall & early winter made it rather challenging getting the last few loads of base material in for the arena.  The truck didn't have any problems because the earlier loads of the 8x material was compacted really well and the truck barely made a dent.  However spreading out the last few loads was a different story.  The last loads went on the south end of the ring which was the lower end which was built up with fill dirt.  Although it had been compacted, it still wasn't as solid as we would have liked it to be. Dave was able to get it spread but because it was several inches deep and saturated from the rains he couldn't compact it at that time.

Water has been flowing out of the drain tile

All the rain was actually a 'blessing in disguise'.  It let us know that we had a problem, a big problem.  As the rain seeped into the ground on the hill above the ring the water flowed out of the hillside where we cut into it for the fill dirt and made the whole ring wet, really wet!  So that's when Dave ordered drain tile, dug a shallow trench & covered it with large rounded gravel  to trap the water coming out of the hill and direct it to a nearby pond.  The tile is doing a great job of keeping the hillside water off the ring and has been running continuously since it was set.  Thank goodness we discovered that before the final grading, compacting and adding the top footing.

Because the south end of the ring needed to be built up and basically slopes off quite a bit; Dave was afraid that a lot of the base footing was going to get washed away before he would be able to compact it.  He wanted a barrier that would help to hold the 8x while allowing the water to run off.  He decided on snow fence rolled in a coil and staked in place.  So far it seems to be working fairly well although he hasn't gotten right up to the edge with a tractor yet.

Basically the project has been put on hold until spring when it will get the final laser grading and compacting with a vibrating roller.  But Dave periodically went down to check on how things were settling and seeing if he needed to tweak anything.  Since the whole arena wasn't grading we had some 'pooling' problems and a few small diversion ditches needed to be dug to get the water to run off.   With the ring drying out and settling a little Dave was able to get on some of the areas with the tractor and rough grade more of the area which had not been compacted yet.  He knew the one corner was going to need more fill to get the correct final right grade but as things settled it looked like it was going to need to be built up more than originally thought. After checking it out with the transit it we knew that just putting more 8 x wasn't going to do the job.

The 'bigger' stone to bring up the low corner

We had a stretch of dry weather and that's when Dave decided to take the base material off that corner piece and bring in 'bigger' material to bring up the corner and then put the 8 x back on top of it.  I don't know what I would do if I didn't have Dave and his 'big toys'!  Now I think it will just be left to settle until spring.

I'm looking forward to having the ring completed and being able to ride on it.

Looking at the stone waiting to be covered with the 8 x

Dave's REALLY, REALLY BIG IDEA - Phase 1

For those of you who have been following this blog for awhile, you are aware that my husband can come up with some 'big' ideas, but this time I think he has outdone himself!  He saw an ad in the Farm and Dairy for fiberglass domes that have been used as covers for the Akron water treatment plant. He showed me a picture and asked me if it would be anything that we could use.  I thought hmmmmm, a 100' covered round pen could be very useful.  So after a few phone calls we went to look at them to see if it would be something we would be interested in. 

Dome at the Akron Water Treatment Plant

I have to tell you that the picture doesn't accurately portray the magnitude of this structure.  The center peak is 15' high, each of the 34 panels is close to 50' long and 9' wide at the base!  We jokingly called it a 'spaceship'. Now picture it on top of a 10' tall cement base, not at ground level like it's shown here.  I'm still having trouble envisioning that!

Now all we had to do is figure out where to put it, how to get it home, and how to get it up.  Dave made some more calls and found someone to haul it which was half of what we paid for it and get bids for building the structure to put it on.  Well all of a sudden our frugal little project is turning into a major investment!!  But still less that if we had to build something similar from scratch.

We finally decided to on a location where it hopefully won't look too out of place and be useful for more than riding. We're going to put it in the south east corner of the pasture just south of the dressage ring closest to the drive and near the barns.  It's going to be dug into the side of the hill so it won't be sticking 25' feet up into the air looking like aliens have arrived at SGF.  Hopefully that will help to keep it cooler in the summer and warmer in  the winter. We also felt that with the close proximity to the stabling barns it could be used as a shelter for people during competitions and clinics.  And let's hope it won't be protection from the rain and/or oppressive heat this year.

More room for the turn without the posts

The crew was finally ready to dismantle the structures the end of Nov. but before the first load could come; Dave had to remove a couple of posts so the semi could make the turn onto the drive.  For those competitors who have had close encounters with the posts; you'll be happy to hear that they are permanently removed, but a rock has been put near the pasture post to protect it ;)

The first of five loads

When I saw the first load coming down the road I was taken aback by how impressive it looked and I must say I would have taken a double take if I had passed it on the highway.  The picture at the left not only shows the load, but it is very close to where the dome will be erected. 

The pictures give you a little better idea of the magnitude ot the structure.  Dave had to make an attachment for his tractor so he

would be able to unload the panels

Preparing to unload the first set of panels. That's Dave on trailer

which barely could lift the top panel high enough to get it off. The window panels were a little harder to get the first couple off, but amazingly enough; it wasn't that difficult to do.  There were a few loads when the driver couldn't stay to help unload and I got the job of climbing up and  I was given the job of climbing up and hooking the chain to the panel, getting down and balancing the panel to set it aside, climbing up to unhook & repeat the process again and again.  You see there were 8 panels to a load for the first 4 loads and after we unloaded them we then had to repeat the process to stack them in place.

The pictures give you a little better idea of the magnitude of the structure and Phase 1 of Dave's REALLY REALLY BIG IDEA: getting the dome home.  Stay tuned for Phase 2: the rebuilding of the dome.

Unloading step 2

Unloading step 3

Unloading step 4

Unloading step 5 - moving them to their final location

Unloading step 6 - the stacks (this shows 2 stacks)

Close up of a panel with window

One load of windows - the done will alternate panels of solid & window

The final stack showing the two halves of the top

The 5 stacks - a little less room in the trailer parking area

The top vent