Can I DIG My backyard Pond with a Lawn Tractor?

Heat. Heat. All right, danglers. Welcome back to the pond restoration series. It has been over a week since we were last here. We went to Colorado and the last video, if you guys missed it, we drained it in about 48 hours. And so that was phase one of starting the pond restoration. Phase two, is going to be digging it out. And in today's video, we're going to see if little Johnny over here, my my lawn tractor essentially, can help us dig out this pond. So, let's go check out the pond. Could not do this a week ago. Look at this, y'all. This is nuts. It looks like we are in the middle of a desert right now. All these huge cracks. And since we've gotten back from Colorado, I've been kind of checking it daily and walking out here a little bit. And just a few days ago, I was not able to walk out here. As I kind of start to walk towards the middle, it changes. Let me show you. So, draining the pond was actually a huge discovery to see what the bottom is really made of. Turns out that we do have a lot of clay. There's a white substance here, and I don't know if that's from the gypsum that I put in there before. Gypsum does a couple of things. It's a coagulant and it allows you to get all those really fine particles that are suspended that are floating. They'll kind of congeal together and sink to the bottom. But it is also a soil softener. So if you have really hard soils, gypsum's used in a to break that stuff up. So, I don't know if having that that gypsum suspended in the water and then settling if that's this white substance that we're seeing and if that's actually creating a softer environment. As you can kind of see, there's some streaks out here in the middle. Maybe you'll see some footprints. That's from us kind of testing it. And it feels a little bit like, well, it feels a lot like pudding. It has that same consistency, even some of the same sounds as you start to walk across it. And it just looks like chocolate pudding in a lot of areas. I don't know how long that's going to take to really dry up because what it seems is I'm sinking in. Whatever the mix is in the middle here, there's so much moisture underneath. Let me grab a stick and just kind of show you. Actually, Ben discovered this for me. I don't know if I can even reach out here and grab it. Oh, yeah. I'm sinking in right now. It's like I feel like this is how the dinosaurs got got trapped. Oh my gosh, I'm sinking in. So, if I just take this stick, you know, right here, hard right? If I go right here, cheesecake pudding, I can bury that stick essentially. Oh goodness, getting a little muddy. And let me just pull out a piece for you guys. It's like if a cheesecake were left out on the counter. The top is crusty, but that sand, it's gooey pudding stuff right there. So, that's going to be our challenge today is trying to navigate that with the tractor. Obviously, we can't do the middle just yet. Did you see that shake? That was that was a jiggle. So, it's just nuts that we could walk plainly around the edge right here, but if you take five steps in. So, we're going to get in here with little Johnny today and see if we can manipulate some of this stuff that's hard clay and try to avoid the sinking mud pits that might take us down into the abyss. So, you guys have now seen the pond. Now, let's take a look at little Johnny here because I think I briefly introduced this piece of equipment in my shop reveal video, but I really haven't used it on camera. I've put over a 100 hours on this tractor so far. So, you could say I'm I'm like officially an operator at this point, right? Not really. First of all, I don't think I could uh live without having a a tractor now. Having all this grass to bow and then doing yard projects like like the one we're going to do here and just the honeydew's that come at you like, "Hey, need to do the flower beds. We like to move, you know, this get this firewood over here, rocks over here, blah blah blah." It's not blah blah blah. It's not what you sound like, honey. Okay. >> Are you sure? >> Yeah. It's not what you sound like. Yes. This this just cuts the time, you know, it more than half. So, I have time to spend it with you, my beautiful deer. So, speaking of beautiful deers, I'm not I'm not sponsored by John Deere or anything, but uh I have been pretty impressed with the 1025 R and I got a mower deck for it, but when it's time to to get it down and dirty and I need all the clearance, I can take this mower deck off. Thought I might as well film it. It's kind of kind of interesting to watch. I actually wanted to name this thing the John Beer. John Beer cuz I like I like John B and I also like beer. It's like John John Beer. I don't know. I was going to put like a bumblebee on it that says like stay buzzing, never stop. Oh, let me know in the comments if I need to do that. All right, let's crack her up. I got to put it in uh low fourwheel drive. There we go. We're on hooks. Now we're ready to go to work. Let's get in the dirt. All right, guys. Here we go. This corner right here, like I think I can get it in and work the edges. But what you got to be careful with on a tractor like this is this thing can tip over really easily. So I have the rod bars. I never take these down. Really should have more weight on the back like have an implement or something back here. But you know I've got a brush hog. It's too big to get in here and move move around with. So we're going in just straight raw. Not going to take huge loads with a bucket. We're just going to be really careful. And I first of all just want to see if I can even get in here on some semiflat ground, get the bucket against the edge where I can get a load and then take it out. I'm scared. Going to try to do this edge a little flatter where it's hard. Gosh, it's crazy. I can walk on it no problem. All right. See if I can get over this this little spot right here. Oh my gosh, it is leaning so hard right now. I don't even know if I can do that. Might have to try to take it in a little straighter. But all the softer stuff. Oh my gosh. Look at the front tire, guys. Oh my gosh. This is not good. Oh my gosh. We are in it. >> I think we're in it with the axle. >> Oh my gosh. I was walking on this perfectly fine. >> I'm going to have to try to get myself out of the bucket if I even can. I got to turn the rear diff. Yeah, Johnny. Yeah. Let's see if I can walk it in a little bit right here. I know I'm not going to be able to get very far, but starting to sink a little bit right there. Yep. Oh yeah, we're going in. Holy cow. I'm not giving up on little Johnny yet. I might be able to get an get an angle in right here. Also don't know what I might find with digging in here. There's uh there's something else I found that looks like a like a crappy structure, but it's so silted in. Once we do get this dirt out, this is going to be some phenomenal garden dirt right here. Do you guys think that I can make it across here? Does it look tippy to you? >> Yeah, >> it does. It looks pretty tippy. Okay, I'm going to keep my bucket super low. Gosh. >> The problem is if it starts to give in over here, that's when it just goes and I might just jump out. I don't know. I might make it. I might make it right here. I'm pushing in. I'm pushing in. Oh, there it goes. Dude, how is it how is it that bad? What we got here? This is crazy how hard the clay is around the edge, but it's so soft in the middle. I really think all that gypsum that I put in to clear the water, which it did, has made this middle just absolute footing. So, we got to really make sure we get that out of here and replace that with calcium bidite. We're slowly building the path here. Let's go, baby. Let's go. Oh, man. We are Oh, I can feel it. I can feel her le, you know. I I I I'm probably going to have to punch and get a skid steer, but I just feel so comfortable on this tractor. I'm so used to it that it's it's hard for me not to at least try. And it is it is going to be a big player in at least working on this pond. But overheat. Can we lose the clip? Well, boys, I think we center a little too hard. I sank in hard. All time potting soil right here. It just it just it has a has a a soft or a hard shell uh at the top and then it just goes. It's like banana pudding. I felt like I was for sure gonna tip, but I did not. I've got the bucket kind of buried. You guys can really see how tilted it is. Oh my gosh. Uh, but we got Johnny pretty buried in there. And and that these tires are just spinning even close to the edge. So, may bring the old Chevy around, put her in four low, and just just give her a go. So, that's about to happen. Stay tuned. >> Starboard side. >> What side is that? >> Get Get Chuck out of the camera. >> It's This is Leo. >> Oh, okay. Well, you guys are getting HD view of our cat, too. >> Need to break your tractor. >> Yeah. I don't want to break it over. I definitely don't want to bend the loader arms. I need to get like my like my placement ready to get out. >> Seat belt, my dear. >> No, I I I think I want to get out and not You know what I mean? Like hop out like that. >> I I wouldn't hop out that way. Trust you. Hop out the other way. >> Well, that's that's way harder. Gosh. Okay, here we go. It's one to go. It's tipping. That ain't going anywhere. That's stuck. I mean, I can I can go backwards, but I know it's going to tip over. I just don't want to do that. It's going to take a little uh redneck engineering here. Get this baby baby out of here. Don't worry. >> Call Mark Robber. >> Don't worry, little little Johnny. Call Mark Robber. Let's get him in here. Fresh new morning. A new opportunity to get our tractor out and keep digging. I have angst right now. I can barely sleep. just knowing that my personal use lawn tractor is uh is buried in the pond. All right, here we go, boys. This is going to be sketchy. A little bit more. Oh, okay. Okay. Hang on. See if I can push the tractor up while she's pulling in. Keep going. Okay. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I think we got it. There we go. All right, that's good. Holy cow, boys. Johnny is safe. Thank you, honey. You did beautifully. Look, just look beautiful, do it. He was filming you. >> How did that feel? Did you feel the power? >> Oh yeah. Oh yeah. >> Oh yeah. This strong man. >> Oh yeah. Four low baby. >> I had a mom fail. >> Won't you down? >> This is very unlike me. >> Yeah, you were pretty adventurous right there. >> Ah, I I wasn't trying to be adventurous. The mud just It was like quicksand. It grabbed a hold of me. >> Ben decided to join me in the quest. I mean, he can drive this little thing just right over it. Ben, show them show them how you drive over the pond with your tractor. >> Yeah. >> I don't want to give it a dry up. >> Nope. >> All right, boys. A little American muscle. And the John Beer is back in action. It seems so so crumbly, so soft. It's not like I'm really going into that much mud. We'll give it another shot. See if we can get in here and move some dirt. Oh, feels good to have you back. My best bet is most likely keep digging out this edge until I can get it flat enough where I won't tip over. Pretty close to safe. Heat up here. know the one of the main problems with this pond was just the shoreline erosion. There was no shoreline grass when we moved in. I let it grow in, but that really helps with keeping the soil firm around the edge so it doesn't sink in. Yeah, that's going in. That's going in, boys. Come on, big chunkus. Let's get out of here. Oh, stop. Oh, don't tell me to stop again. I need a push up here. I need a big push up. Let's go. Go back. I'm going to need another toe. Go ahead. Yep. Keep pulling. Yep. There she blows. All right, that's good. >> Thank you, my dear. >> You're welcome. >> It's pretty easy. I'll be here all day. >> My toe queen. That's my toe queen. >> Certainly don't want to get stuck a third time. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. There we go. Here we go. Here we go, baby. Holy cow. We need data out. All right, danglers. It is another day here in Texas. 100°. I'm hoping that the pond has dried out a little bit more. Yesterday, we were able to actually work the edge a pretty good bit. And I want to continue that around and see if I can dump into the other side of the pond. I feel like I have really learned the limitations of the John Beer here. Almost tipped it multiple times. Uh felt pretty good about just safely expanding the limits, you know, um with with the tractor. And uh if we get it stuck again today, we get it stuck again today. I think ultimately we are going to need a skid steer. uh something with some tracks that we can get out there and just increase the surface area at least to get in there and start digging. Uh my worry is the longer that stuff just sits in the pudding pool and it's so thick that it's going to take so long to dry. So I I'd like to get something out there, start scooping and let it dry a little quicker. But with these tires and the small tires, all the weight, it just wants to dig on down. It's fun to watch though. We're going to try to go in on this left bank over here. I walked in a little bit this morning. I feel like it's possible that I can do some pretty good work with the tractor if I can just get in right over here. I I already kind of cleared this bank a little yesterday. a minute less steep, but I think I can drop in here and possibly not sink. We'll see. That feels sketchy. That feels sketchy. Can we do it? How bad is it? Is it pretty bad? Are we going into the abyss? Feels like we're going to Oh, yeah. We're going in. I don't know. Might be able to power through. Oh, baby. Oh, yeah. No, we're we're getting stuck just right out of the gate. All right, I'm going to do the old boot scoot here. See if I can get up and out of here. Try a little bit different angle. Oh yeah. Now we're we're in the grease. >> All right. Well, hey, that was shortlived. It's so slimy down here. Just look at this. I'm going to get a bucket load of this crap. Look at this absolute slop. It's putting. Holy cow. Oh. Oh my gosh. I got the I got the loader stuck. The loader is stuck. And we definitely don't want that. was. Holy crap. Oh my gosh. Look at the goop. Look at the deep goop. All right. There's no way I can get out here because I have no leverage. When I push against the goop, I have no power. So, we're going to have to get the Chevy back out here again. Get us unstuck. New day, same program. It's It's so crazy because if you if I'm just like a foot off, the earth becomes liquid and over here is just such hard clay. Well, John Beer, this is just too much for you to do. Sorry. My lady just gets me out of a jam every time. I love it. Look how I buried this one. >> Yeah, you did bury that one. >> This was the worst one. The old John Beer might need a wash after this. >> Yeah, you can smell it, too. It's crazy that I can like I could walk right on the edge of this and not sink in. This is probably the best dirt of all time. Think of all the fish poop that's in here. >> I'm going to try this dry area and then I'm done tapping out. It's just too much fun. Even getting stuck is fun. Heat. Heat. I was able to get the John Beer in here and do some work, especially around the edges. You know, we did a little more work after getting stuck for the third time. I I love my tractor, but it is a lawn tractor. And final verdict, can could I dig this thing out totally with it? I think yes, if I had, you know, a year to be able to do that, but I need to get this done quick. I want to get it done before the fall rains. I want to get the clay settled right with the calcium bitite or liner, whatever we end up doing so that when the rains do start coming in, it's gonna it's going to go nicely. So, now is a great window. So, I think I'm going to punt to a skid steer or an excavator, combination of the two, so we can really knock this thing out. That's going to be fun to watch. I don't really know how to run either of those. It's been a few more days. We have had 105° every single day in Texas. It has just been scorching hot. You can now walk across the pond. So, it is drying out. You know, still still a little squishy in the middle. We're We're definitely going to plummet the tractor inside of here. But you can see the middle is all cracked up. And it's actually revealed some more stuff in here like these like these buckets. See, this is a little half bucket right here. And there was I I found some like little um rubber hoses that looked like some crappie structures and stuff, but you can also see pulling out these chunks, these clay chunks. Like this is what we want the bottom to be. This is actually workable. I think if I get tracks out on this stuff, we can actually start working it. So, kind of a mystery what these were. little catfish huts or not really sure, but I think the middle got so silted in over the years. It's just a few feet or more of this uh goop and we don't need that in the middle of the pond. I'm just imagining already how we're going to uh you know put some rock and different structures in here to make this a centrid paradise. That is that is the sunfish species, the basses, maybe a few crappie in here. I know this was a fun video to watch, guys. I had so much fun on the tractor, even getting it stuck. I can't wait to uh get on a bigger piece of equipment and try to knock this thing out. Uh and it's just fun. This is isn't a huge pond, so it feels like something I I can tackle. Next thing we're doing, we're getting on that big equipment and we're digging this baby out for real. So stay tuned for that and I'll see y'all on the next one.