King of the Sandbox

I am sure you have secretly placed your bets on the outcome of "How do we dig our test pits?". I am positive that if you know Mr. Dometastic you have placed your bets correctly but couldn't foresee the delays that have happened. We did buy the excavator BUT it needs a repair to a tred before we can move it. The tred is loose and needs a new part. Lucky for us the part is a whopping $40 and we know someone that can fix it. This means it will not be ready for the test pit holes that have ALSO been delayed..... just not enough to get the excavator ready for them. We are hiring someone to come with a backhoe for the new test day of May 31st. The excavator is scheduled to be repaired the first weekend in June. Hopefully all goes well and we get it delivered shortly after.

Mr. Dometastic was not this kid when he was in kindergarten but he sure wishes he was!

Mr. Dometastic has always looked at fun sports cars but his practical side just won't let him go for it. We have too much dirt in our lives! There is no way we can stop our vehicles from eventually smelling like a horse. Add in kids and it is hopeless.

I have done this many times!

He has officially found a way to buy a ridiculous vehicle that is both practical (at least temporarily) and has no issue with dirt of any kind!

We are the proud owners of a late 1970's Case 880B Excavator! It is an approximately 14 ton behemoth that can't be driven on paved roads without breaking them. Are we a little bit crazy? YEP! No question about it. It is fulfilling Mr. Dometastic's childhood need for the title "King of the Sandbox". There is a little bit of adult excitement thrown in as well. He gets to drive a tracked tank that just happens to have a digging arm. Diesel tracked tank + giant digging arm = FUN.

We now have the ability to dig everything for the build ourselves: (with the exception of the test pits)

Remove giant tree stumps
Create opening in stone wall for driveway
Make a driveway
Dig a trench for utilities
Dig foundations for both the barn and the house
Move giant rocks (New England is known for its rocks!)
Dig hole for septic

I don't need to do any math to know that the list above is way more than the $5k we paid for the excavator. If it can hold on and run for 2 or 3 of the items on the list ... we have easily broken even. We don't mind giving it a little love to keep it going as long as it isn't anything major. Clearly it needs a bit of love just to get it to us. It is still worth several thousand as scrap metal and the 6 yr old engine is worth money too. We can more than make up for the surprise engineering costs if this machine can just hold on for a few more years.

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