Mud Hole

All I accomplished for the past two days is pumping water out of the hole.  Here the pump is off to the left.  The green hose is the intake hose and the blue one is the exhaust hose, which is connected to a PVC pipe that goes out to the street.

The pump does a good job of pumping most of the water out of the hole quite quickly.  But unfortunately it can never pump all of the water out.  If the water is less than about three inches deep, it starts sucking air at the top of the intake strainer  (under water here.)  And if I remove the strainer, it starts sucking mud.

Yesterday I removed the strainer and got most of the water out of the hole.  But then I discovered that both hoses were packed with sand.  I had to spend more time getting the sand out of the hoses than I did pumping the water out of the hole.  Yet another problem that I didn't know about until it happened.  And then yesterday afternoon it rained again.  The rain not only puts water back into the hole, it also washes dirt into it and undermines the sides. The hole seems to have a will to refill itself.

Even when it doesn't rain, water seeps into the hole from the sides.  It is almost impossible to dig, because the water soaked sand and mud is so heavy.  I think I need a Bobcat.

Fantasy

A Hole Full of Water

A short but intense summer thunderstorm completely filled the hole (in its present unfinished condition.)
 
 

Looks like I better keep digging.

Getting to the Root of the Problem

Roots are a constant impediment to digging.  You can't dig the dirt because of the roots and you can't cut the roots because of the dirt.  Here I had to use the hand spade to remove dirt from around the root.  Digging with the hand space is easier than digging with the shovel, but it is painfully slow.

The big root was surrounded by small roots that get in the way, preventing me from using a bow saw to cut the big root.  First I had to remove the small roots using the wooden handle lopper and small hand shears.

Finally I could get at the big root with the bow saw.

Trophy

I'm thinking about having it mounted.