[TheForge] A few questions... opinions solicited OT by now

[Larry Brown]

Andy
I lived down in Lincoln County back in the mid to late 70's. Lots of rock 
and lots of bed rock. You need blasting to change the bed rock (Something 
you should enjoy). The excavator is a good idea. Keep your self on high 
ground as streams and rivers there can rise quickly with out much warning 
and be much larger than you imagine. If you do a pond make your walls well 
and the lining with good clay. Pay attention to the spillway as it might 
have to carry a lot of water.  Terracing will work but I wouldn't build 
till after it sits a while. (The roads blow out down there from un stable 
ground). Check to make sure you aren't buying next to an old mine as the 
ones in the hillsides blow out huge mud slides and under ground ones 
collapse, not daily but your luck hasn't been great lately, why push it, 
check around about the property. Where I was we used to get tremors from 
the Gas being taken out from under us. Had a large chasm that turned into a 
hillslide after one. A big section with good size trees moved about 15' 
towards the base of the holler. Farmers down there learned to make do with 
all the little flats on thier property. Tobacco and hemp (Years ago) grew 
in small patches all over some farms.
Buy an extra excavator for parts and a pile of extra teeth for the bucket ;-)
Larry Brown

>Second:  There are only about 3 level acres out of the 100, maybe as much 
>as 4 or 5, but definitely not more than that.  I have been thinking about 
>terracing the mountainside for gardens.  The seller, John, told me that an 
>excavator would make short work of this.  My questions are:
>
>         1 what to do with the fill?  I can use some to dam the creek, but 
> that would be a pittance compared to what I think would be left over.
>         2 Could the terracing could be done such that the side is 
> rearranged using most of the material?
>
>         3. How wide can/should they be?  How tall?  Do retaining walls 
> have to be built or is vegetation sufficient to keep the area stable?
>
>Unrelated question:  anyone know of a good source for parts for a CASE 
>125B excavator?
>
>         Many thanks, as usual.
>
>         -Andy
>_