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Nullus Anxietas
Picture of ensigmatic
posted
There's this raised garden along the west side of the house, using peeler core. When we replaced it all, a couple years ago, I decided I wasn't foolin' around. Bought three foot pieces of rebar, drilled holes in the bottom course, and drove 'em in. I did not want that thing moving.

It moved, anyway.

Clay. Sucks.

Problem was there are a couple 180° pop-up misters just in front of that thing, and now they weren't popping up so well. Today was remediation day. Three hours digging up the two heads to reposition them and adding a mid-span tie-back to the raised garden. Three hours in the bloody hot sun.

But got 'er done. Yay, right?

Put everything away, fired up the zone and...

WTF?!?! One of the heads is blowing mist straight up.

*sigh* Turns out part of the head is missing. (I thought it looked a bit odd as I was re-positioning it, but, carried on.)

Deactivate the zone again. I get to dig that head out all over again. And, of course, it's in a low spot, so, when I pull the head off the line water fills the hole. Clay. Did I mention it was clay? Yeah, it's clay.

God, I fracking hate clay.



"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system,,,, but too early to shoot the bastards." -- Claire Wolfe
"If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living." -- Seneca the Younger, Roman Stoic philosopher
 
Posts: 26009 | Location: S.E. Michigan | Registered: January 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
SIGforum Official
Eye Doc
Picture of bcereuss
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by ensigmatic:
There's this raised garden along the west side of the house, using peeler core. When we replaced it all, a couple years ago, I decided I wasn't foolin' around. Bought three foot pieces of rebar, drilled holes in the bottom course, and drove 'em in. I did not want that thing moving.

It moved, anyway.

Clay. Sucks.

Problem was there are a couple 180° pop-up misters just in front of that thing, and now they weren't popping up so well. Today was remediation day. Three hours digging up the two heads to reposition them and adding a mid-span tie-back to the raised garden. Three hours in the bloody hot sun.

But got 'er done. Yay, right?

Put everything away, fired up the zone and...

WTF?!?! One of the heads is blowing mist straight up.

*sigh* Turns out part of the head is missing. (I thought it looked a bit odd as I was re-positioning it, but, carried on.)

Deactivate the zone again. I get to dig that head out all over again. And, of course, it's in a low spot, so, when I pull the head off the line water fills the hole. Clay. Did I mention it was clay? Yeah, it's clay.

God, I fracking hate clay.


Someone here years ago summed it quite accurately: "Digging clay is like digging bubblegum."
 
Posts: 2933 | Location: (Occupied) Northern Minnesota | Registered: June 24, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Nullus Anxietas
Picture of ensigmatic
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by bcereuss:
Someone here years ago summed it quite accurately: "Digging clay is like digging bubblegum."

Oh, that's when it's wet. When it's dry it's like digging concrete.

Before I bought this house I researched ground, soil and topographical information. (Got an engineering mindset.) USGS soil survey said "predominantly sandy loam." Sandy loam is great stuff.

Yeah, right. Occasionally we hit sandy loam in our yard. Beautiful stuff. Mostly it's just fracking clay.

When we had a new well put in some fifteen or twenty years ago, well man remarked that it went from brown clay straight to blue clay, and stayed blue clay until he hit an aquifer at 120 feet.

Sandy loam my sweet ass!



"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system,,,, but too early to shoot the bastards." -- Claire Wolfe
"If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living." -- Seneca the Younger, Roman Stoic philosopher
 
Posts: 26009 | Location: S.E. Michigan | Registered: January 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Three Generations
of Service
Picture of PHPaul
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I feel ya.

I live on an old stream delta and the topsoil is actually pretty nice. Damn nice in some spots.

Down a foot is red sand.

Down another foot is pin gravel. This is a sandy gravel/clay mix with pea-sized stone that compacts to roughly the compressive strength of the Hoover Dam.

Under that is blue clay. When it's wet, it makes teflon look positively abrasive. When it's dry, it makes diamonds look like marshmallows.

Evil, nasty stuff.




Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
 
Posts: 15210 | Location: Downeast Maine | Registered: March 10, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
No good deed
goes unpunished
Picture of cheesegrits
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We sit on clay, too, and it's awful. Our clay is red and stains everything from siding to socks.
 
Posts: 2680 | Location: The Carolinas | Registered: June 08, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Ammoholic
Picture of Skins2881
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I'm lucking I have clay AND shale. It's like playing the lottery. I am happy as can be when I hit clay. Rocks vary in size from grape to watermelon size.



Jesse

Sic Semper Tyrannis
 
Posts: 20815 | Location: Loudoun County, Virginia | Registered: December 27, 2014Reply With QuoteReport This Post
This Space for Rent
Picture of ugeesta
posted Hide Post
Yup. Fixing a couple broken lines this weekend too. Beneath the 3/4" of top soil the landscaper put down under the sod is Brown Clay. to make it worse, the areas next to the driveway have rock and gravel mixed in.

ugh....




We will never know world peace, until three people can simultaneously look each other straight in the eye

Liberals are like pussycats and Twitter is Trump's laser pointer to keep them busy while he takes care of business - Rey HRH.
 
Posts: 5749 | Location: Colorado | Registered: April 20, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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