Ditches, Water Lines and Backyard Ponds

Last Saturday the man with the backhoe came to dig the trench and put the line in for the sewer so we can have full hook up. It was a nice sunny day and although we had plans to just kick back and then go see Kenny race, we were still glad to get this done. One more thing off our list of things to accomplish here at Leisure Lake before winter. When spring comes, we will be pretty well set up.

Well that is what we thought. Remember how many times we moved the wood pile because the places we had chosen for the shed were not going to work? Well the day before the backhoe operator showed up, we had gotten the gravel in place for the shed. Whew that was heavy work shoveling that gravel!



Shed site ready to go

Well, the backhoe driver had to drive over our shed site to get some of his digging done. Oh well, he only messed it up a little. No big deal!

Ken and one of the trustees, Bob, stayed with the backhoe driver most of the day assisting. He was a friendly and intelligent man who knew what he was doing.

But alas, another thing that was not going to work out easily. He hit a water line that no one realized was behind our camper. And to top that off, there was an electric line right next to it and yes, he cut that too. "Oh boy," I thought, "we are not going to be well liked here at Leisure Lake." They had to turn the water off for the whole park to get the line fixed. And some of the park was without electricity until that was fixed. It didn't take long for either to be fixed and we were back in business. The sewer line was put in place and the trench was covered up.

We were now happy campers!




No more tanks to empty!!!!!

So Sunday while I was inside doing some chores, Ken was outside raking the dirt to even the ground. I heard him calling me but ignored him because I was busy and selfishly felt that if he wanted me he could come inside and tell me what he wanted to say. Finally, I went outside to see what was going on. He told me to come behind the camper and there was something oozing out of the ground. Ken had sunk in the dirt and was stuck when he was calling me to come help him out. But what was that coming out of the ground? Had we hit oil? No, not oil. The water line broke loose again and water was coming up out of the ground.

Surprised? No not really. It goes the same way other stuff here has gone. Not easily. So all the trustees that are in the park stop by to take a look. Ken and one of the trustees tried digging but the hole just kept getting wetter, heavier and bigger. The backhoe operator has to come back and redig and fix the water line again.

So now we have a small "pond" behind our camper. I think there is only one other campsite that has a pond on it and it was man made with a plastic liner. Ours is natural.  I think I will buy some rubber duckies or plastic fish to put in it until it is fixed.

Our shed arrived the next day and is now in place. It looks great. But we have to watch where we walk to get in the shed because the ground along the trench line (which is right in front of the shed) is sinking from the water filling in below ground level. One good thing about all of this is that the water in the park will be shut off the first weekend of November. If the waterline is not fixed by then, I am guessing we will be waiting until spring.

Here is a picture of the view from our pond area overlooking the hill. We have plans to develop this area with a deck next  year. The view is beautiful.

All in all, even though things have not gone as smoothly as we had hoped, we love it here.