Al Gore's Climate Change Wins. Again.

Yesterday, Earl and I decided to tackle TODD (Trailer of Doom and Death) again.   We'd moved it previously about three feet before the backhoe sunk in the dirt.   The day before, I had filled the ruts we made with stones and gravel, and "caged the brakes" on the trailer.

This is TODD.  He's 48 feet long, 8 feet wide, and weighs over 13,000 pounds.  It kind of dwarfs the backhoe, doesn't it?

Previously, Earl and I ran back and forth between his place and the trailer, filling an air tank with compressed air, and then running back to the trailer to pump up the air pressure in the brakes.   After several hours, we finally got the pressure up to 110 pounds and the brakes released.   Then we promptly buried the backhoe in the dirt, made ruts, etc.

The pic below is after I "caged the brakes".

See that threaded rod sticking out of the spring loaded canister?  It came from that vertical holder on the left side of the canister with the slots on the ends.  You simply unbolt it, remove it from the holder, pop off the canister's plug, insert the rod and turn it 90 degrees, and crank down on the bolt, compressing a big honkin' spring and releasing the brakes.

Earl and I used the backhoe to dig out a load of stone and gravel, and we filled everything in nicely.   It was going to work perfectly, and we'd have TODD moved in no time.  Well, we would have, if it didn't rain.   Not only rain, but pour.  The light brown soil is the gravel.  The dark brown evil soil is slipprey, clammy clay.  Being guys, we decided that going for it was much more fun than waiting for a sunny day.

This is after our attempt.  The backhoe dug down through the gravel and right into the clay, instantly burying itself up to its axles.

So today, if it doesn't rain (HAH!) I'll use Bessie the Tractor to fill the ruts with gravel and then smooth it with the back blade.

Seriously, what is wrong with Al Gore?  His internets is fine, but his climate change is for the birds.  Ducks, specifically.