Deck Prep Stump Removal Part 2

Several weeks ago I posted about our removing a huge stump in order to prepare to build our deck.  We had to stop the process, leaving a huge hole where the stump had been because Robert's huge machine would no longer back up.  He finally got the transmission part fixed, and since today was the third day of no rain, so we decided to go forward, full steam ahead!

 The hole as it has been for the past 3 weeks.

Here comes Robert, the master of the big machine, called a backhoe.

The process begins...scoop...

...then drop...over, and over, and over.  Quite an art to moving all that soil!

Robert then tamps down the soil a bit, to compress it.  Surprisingly, it is still quite moist, even though it has not rained for 3 days and we all thought it would be somewhat dry...the soil is kind of like a sponge, squishy, with air pockets.

Time for scooping and pushing, and interesting process to watch, kind of like using a knife to push the extra flour off of your measuring cup!

Pretty flat now...

 ...time to use the loader to grade the area.  Bummer, the ground it too saturated, causing the back tire to spin...no good!

Robert turns the backhoe around and tries more tamping...

Robert decides to get out and check the area, still seems too soft for his liking.  He's got Johny and Ron our neighbor, participating in the evaluation, LOL!

 After determining the soil is just too moist to continue (don't want this huge machine stuck in the soft soil indefinitely), Robert shows us the part of the transmission that broke that last time he was working on our project...seems like such a small part, doesn't it? 

So here we are, proceeding with Part 3 of this project whenever the ground dries enough to finish it.  But when you compare this picture with the first one, looks better, doesn't it?

Have you ever had a project that goes on and on and on due to things out of your control?  All one can say is c'est la vie, oui?!

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,

Lise