We’ve been building a bridge over the last two weeks.  We replaced a culvert with a small span, crossing a seasonal stream in the middle of our land.  The stream runs most of the year, drying up for a week or two most summers.  It never gushes, but we’ve had problems with the culvert plugging with ice and shifting out of position during the spring thaw.  The bridge should allow us to span the entire streambed and thus avoid the freeze problems.

At this point, we hit a roadblock because our old Case 530 backhoe died a sudden death.  The engine started making a terrible banging clatter and I was only able to run it long enough to get the bucket and outriggers retracted so we could tow it out of the way.  I’m pretty sure a rod is thrown, which means the backhoe is finished.  It needs a new clutch and a lot of hydraulic work, so I think it is time to ship it off to the auction.  I had to rent a pricy but very capable mid-size excavator to finish the project.