Ez's 2013 duff challenge

[ezdays]

Yup! now it looks like a "mothballed" Star Wars Battle Cruiser !
Time to moor it in it's place, and let the foliage grow over it.

Looks like progress to me...

Yeah, I took the cue from what I saw in the "Aircraft Boneyard" just south of us in Tucson. I think they have a few of them mothballed down there, they're just not saying. I have no idea where they got tarps that big to cover them though.

[ezdays]

One small step for mankind, or for my challenge. I've painted the rocks that were exposed by the cut, put the dirt in and added some grass and a few plants around the edges where the ground might show around some of the trees. I put it in place just to get an idea of how it's shaping up, but I'm still doing all of the work on it in the garage. It sure is a lot easier than reaching over a couple of feet, and it keeps me from messing up the layout hock: hock: ..... well, any worse than it is already.

   

I added a retaining wall to hold back the rocks on the hill, but it kind of looks tacked on, so I think I'm going to change it for a bigger and taller one. The way I have it now just doesn't look right.

   

The big thing is that I'm actually making progress, even if it isn't all in the right direction...

[doctorwayne]

Yeah, that retaining wall doesn't work there, but your rock work looks really nice. I'm not even sure that a retaining wall would be necessary, as the rocks don't look like they'll be sliding anywhere.

Wayne

[sailormatlac]

I agree with Wayne, your rock cut looks pretty solid to me. No need for a retaining wall there. They are habitually used where there isn't any rock to retain the soil.

Matt

[ezdays]

Yeah, I agree, the way the rock pile turned out isn't the way I intended. I'm going to try to rework the rocks a bit to add some rubble, since I'm kind of committed now to putting in a retaining wall there. Yeah, I cut out the rock formation to put the wall in flat and repairing it is not going to be easy.

[Tyson Rayles]

Don I agree with Wayne and Matt, I would get rid of the wall. Other than that everything is looking good !

[Catt]

I vote for ditching the wall.Just replace it with some large rocks and some greenery.Other than that it looks great.

[ezdays]

Against the advice of some well respected members, I'm making one more attempt at putting in a retaining wall. Somehow, I just feel that something belongs there and I knew that first wall just wasn't right.

My argument is that there is more loose rocks there than it looked like at first glance. Secondly, there is a drainage problem at that location and the railroad was concerned that if they didn't control the flow, there could be a mud and rock slide onto the tracks, and we all know the consequences of that. So, as a precaution, the railroad added a 75' poured-in-place concrete wall embedded into the rock and topped by an 8' high expanded metal fence. There are four concrete drainage pipes install to handle runoff. 8-)

Now, if it still doesn't look right, I'll go ahead and put cut rock back without question or hesitation....

   

   

   

   

[Tyson Rayles]

Don I think the reason a retaining wall doesn't look right there is that the hill isn't big/tall/steep enough to warrant one. Or to totally butcher an old saying "your all wall and no hill".


The old saying I had in mind (being where you live) was " All hat and no cows".

[ezdays]

Don I think the reason a retaining wall doesn't look right there is that the hill isn't big/tall/steep enough to warrant one. Or to totally butcher an old saying "your all wall and no hill".


The old saying I had in mind (being where you live) was " All hat and no cows".

Good point, it would have been a lot easier to just put rocks back in there, but, as another old saying goes, I wanted to give it that old college try.....

Being in the southwest, you could say, "all hat and no horse".... Lot's of them there folk around here.

[Sumpter250]

Being in the southwest, you could say, "all hat and no horse".... Lot's of them there folk around here.

Hay !! ( yes I meant to spell it that way ), Be nice. I have Grandsons out there !

[ezdays]

Being in the southwest, you could say, "all hat and no horse".... Lot's of them there folk around here.

Hay !! ( yes I meant to spell it that way ), Be nice. I have Grandsons out there !

Yeah, but how many horses do they have? You didn't see any horses behind my house when you where there, but I do have a hat, a pair of boots and even an Indian friend or two. Put that in your pipe and smoke it kemosabe

[Sumpter250]

[ezdays]

I don't suppose you remember my other avatar, it tells the story about the dangers of living here in Arizona without a horse.

   

[ezdays]

Remember that meteor that hit Russia yesterday? Well, it had a profound affect on my project. It seems as i a stray particle hit my hill, right where the wall and fence were. You can see the results: