Can’t go wrong when the excavator operator has a koi tattoo

We’re making progress on the koi pond. Today a LOT of work got done around the farm, and not by us 😊! We’ve been asking around about someone who could do the deeper pond excavation. My retired neighbor said he would do it but he’s not always home on his farm. My koi friend, Sandy (married to a koi judge, Steve) said that she would ask their landscaper. So today the landscaper showed up with his nephew (the excavator operator) and I think his stepfather… three generations on a lovely spring Saturday. We also had a friend over who wanted to see the scheduled activity.

In two and a half hours, the talented young guy finished the major digging, made a little road into the pond and shaped the interior walls. While he was doing his work, pond builder was telling the elderly gentleman about the things found on the farm. We’ve had the odd cooler and random axle sitting in the woods – which elderly guy said he would scrap for us. Bonus for us being able to get rid of the items. Back at the pond site, the excavator asked if we had some other things we’d like done since he had this large piece of machinery. Well SURE! Pond builder was super excited that they could pull out stumps. Scott (the young guy), pulled them out just like weeds, shook off the dirt and piled them by our fire pit. He offered to do more but we had another task for him.

We had a very large tree off the SE corner of the house that had a split in the trunk and if it was to come down, it would fall towards the house. The work crew said no problem knocking it down, cutting it up and moving all of it behind our barn. AMAZING – 90 minutes and the job was done. I’m quite relieved the tree is gone since the interior was already starting to rot.

There’s a lot of tasks ahead before the pond is complete. We have equipment on order and finding someone to do the concrete is the next hurdle. Excavator guy is going to check around and see if he can help find someone. Then we’ll need the walls put up — another challenge because the original guy we spoke to no longer works for the wall company 😩. I’m sure we’ll find someone. Meanwhile I’m happy the pond project is moving along.