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We bought a 22hp John Deere last year - with a loader and belly mower. It's amazing how helpful it has become. With the recent ice storms we had about a ton of debris to clean up - I was able to use the bucket to push it into a burn pile in about an hour (the old fashioned way would have taken half a day and a lot of Advil). I was most surprised in how well it mows - I am getting rid of my old riding lawn mower.
 
We bought a 22hp John Deere last year - with a loader and belly mower. It's amazing how helpful it has become. With the recent ice storms we had about a ton of debris to clean up - I was able to use the bucket to push it into a burn pile in about an hour (the old fashioned way would have taken half a day and a lot of Advil). I was most surprised in how well it mows - I am getting rid of my old riding lawn mower.
I took my lawn tractor to our VA property for our son to use. He’s been downing trees, pulling rocks out of the ground and building a road. He was doing okay with what he had and then he got Lyme disease. Since I can’t be there all the time and when I am there not much help since I have two jacked up knees I decided this tractor would be of some help to him. We have ten acres with a couple of creeks and a ton of work to do.
 
We bought a 22hp John Deere last year - with a loader and belly mower. It's amazing how helpful it has become. With the recent ice storms we had about a ton of debris to clean up - I was able to use the bucket to push it into a burn pile in about an hour (the old fashioned way would have taken half a day and a lot of Advil). I was most surprised in how well it mows - I am getting rid of my old riding lawn mower.
Nothing runs like a Deere except a Wheel Horse.😂🤣😅😇
 
You need another son by any chance?

You could buy a spare one and leave it on my property here in FL. I am about to enter on your son's journey and could really use a bucket, backhoe, ditch digger and bushwhacker for a start - LOL...

Oh. A grader would be cool too...

Oh. And a post hole digger...
 
You need another son by any chance?

You could buy a spare one and leave it on my property here in FL. I am about to enter on your son's journey and could really use a bucket, backhoe, ditch digger and bushwhacker for a start - LOL...

Oh. A grader would be cool too...

Oh. And a post hole digger...
Go wait out by the curb. Your tractor should be there between 9 and 3. Or was that the cable guy. :cool:
 
You need another son by any chance?

You could buy a spare one and leave it on my property here in FL. I am about to enter on your son's journey and could really use a bucket, backhoe, ditch digger and bushwhacker for a start - LOL...

Oh. A grader would be cool too...

Oh. And a post hole digger...
How about a log splitter?
 
Now that you mention it...

And a wood chipper....
GOT to have a chipper! I had to clear a fairly large lot with many trees to build a garage. Bought a chipper that connects to our tractor's PTO. As I expected it saved me a ton of time as I cut down all the trees, cut the larger sections up for firewood and chipped the branches. It was a multi-day effort but I ended up with a nice pile of firewood AND wood chips that I can use for mulch. Without the chipper I would have had to drag all the branches to a burn pile.

There was one small area remaining to clear when the contractor showed up to prepare the pad. He had a very large excavator which he used to dig a huge hole about 25 feet deep. He then just tore out stumps, boulders, and the remaining brush-- picked up and dropped all in the hole and covered everything up. Took him less than an hour to do this. What a SHOW OFF!
What he did in that short time would have taken me days to do. But-- he never looked like he was having as much fun as I did. ;)
 
There was one small area remaining to clear when the contractor showed up to prepare the pad. He had a very large excavator which he used to dig a huge hole about 25 feet deep. He then just tore out stumps, boulders, and the remaining brush-- picked up and dropped all in the hole and covered everything up. Took him less than an hour to do this. What a SHOW OFF!
What he did in that short time would have taken me days to do. But-- he never looked like he was having as much fun as I did. ;)
As I transition to the "country" I am learning the value of just talking to people.

When the well guy came to quote he asked about my plans. When I told him about power distribution and maybe relocating or adding new poles (like 20 feet tall) he said, "If you get them on-site before we drill, we'll drop them in the holes for you with our 300 foot crane" - Nice!

I'll keep your story in mind for the cement pad guy - whom I haven't had in yet - LOL...
 
As I transition to the "country" I am learning the value of just talking to people.

When the well guy came to quote he asked about my plans. When I told him about power distribution and maybe relocating or adding new poles (like 20 feet tall) he said, "If you get them on-site before we drill, we'll drop them in the holes for you with our 300 foot crane" - Nice!

I'll keep your story in mind for the cement pad guy - whom I haven't had in yet - LOL...
We were going to have a well drilled but decided to use the spring instead. Researching best ways to pump water from the spring to the cabin.
 
Boy I am certainly getting an education on things. Learned a lot about well drilling, pumping, filtering, yada, yada, yada...

I am sure you are figuring it out but pump, tank and "expected consumption" are inter-related factors. It's not as simple as "bigger pump - more water" - who knew?

Got a crash course in septic systems last week - LOL...

Power would seem the simplest. There is a pole at the street and it happens to have a transformer on it. Easy right?

I'm still not sure who does what - LOL... The county decides if your "on-property" poles are good enough to hook up to their pole. The "energy" company will hook up but have a limit how far "onto" the property they will hook up I wanna recall like 75 feet. The owner puts in poles after that. And I am told a "contractor" has to buy and install a meter and the "first" distribution box. An "owner/builder" can add anything he wants after that but must install a distribution box for each run over like 100 feet or something. So I can run my own 150 foot feed to the garage but I would have to and am allowed to install my own power box at the garage.

Still reading code and rules - buried vs. over head etc. etc. - LOL...

Half of me says, "Hire a contractor to deal with everything." - The other half says, "Go talk to the energy company first. They should be able to provide the straight and skinny about all this."

The "current" abandoned setup is 3 poles onto the property and a run of about 200 feet from the street. There is an empty meter housing and an empty distribution box attached to the last pole.
 
Our power comes from down the street, across the street, across the creek and down the road to in front of the property. That cost me $9,000. I have to set a 16’ 4x4 with a meter box. I purchased a Square D box with 4 breaker spaces which I will install two 30 amp and two 20 amp breakers. I will purchase another weather proof box for outlets. This is a temporary setup until we have our cabin at that time we will bury cable from the road to the cabin.
 
We were going to have a well drilled but decided to use the spring instead. Researching best ways to pump water from the spring to the cabin.
Back on the farm all our water for house & barn came from a spring. Some of it flowing through good ol' lead pipes no less! Seasonal cabin also supplied by spring water.

Be curious to hear what you come up with. Seems to make sense to at least start with spring water and see how that goes and perhaps being able to avoid the much higher cost of drilling.
 
Still reading code and rules - buried vs. over head etc. etc. - LOL...

Half of me says, "Hire a contractor to deal with everything." - The other half says, "Go talk to the energy company first. They should be able to provide the straight and skinny about all this."
At the rate you're going with respect to learning all the ins and outs, YOU will eventually be the go-to guy your neighbors come to with their questions. :)

Where we live there are a number of electricians to choose from-- some with a better reputation than others. However even though he's not the cheapest, we only use a guy we've been doing business with for decades. He's very good but just as important when there is an issue involving the power company-- like when a dump truck tears down power lines along our driveway, or a severe voltage fluctuations when some kind equipment installed on new poles to name just two examples-- he doesn't have to look up the number to call given he has a personal relationship with most all the big shots at the power companies. They take his call.
 
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