By Chip Brown | Maynardville@gmail.com

The inevitable has happened! I arrived at the site this morning to view the week three progress. Once again there is less hill than there once was. But all of the efforts seemed directed to one spot on the site. They had found a rock!

I have no idea if this is the first rock they had hit but I can say it is the first I had seen. I walk the site each week and previously commented that I couldn't find a rock large enough to throw at my neighbor's dog. When I got to the site three rocks had been uncovered. These three rocks were about 1/4 the size of a car and appeared to me to be limestone.

The problem with rocks is that they can interfere with the pan. The pan is the heavy hauler on the site. It moves along scooping up dirt and then placing the dirt where it is needed. If a pan hits a small rock it is no problem but larger rocks can make it skip. This can cause a high place in the excavation.

Having the right equipment on the site is key. Once the rock was located and its size determined the trackhoe was brought in. The trackhoe dug each rock out and I figured it was done. However it began replacing the dirt where the rock had been. I am told this makes the surface more uniform and allows the pan to resume its job more effectively.

All excess dirt was loaded into the pan to be moved to another area.

I watched the pan work for a while, as I had never been this near one. It moves along the ground like a lumbering dinosaur. As it moves a hydraulic cylinder lowers the front lip of the hopper being pulled behind. Like a razor blade it trims off the top layer of soil. Unlike a razor blade the layer it trims off is about eight inches deep.

The power unit is in the front of the pan. On this section the operator steers and runs the hydraulics. Behind the power unit is the hopper. The hopper digs up the soil and then opens to release the collected rubble in another area. Once deposited in another area the compactor moves in and compresses the new soil into a strong base.

I suppose most men are like myself and very reluctant to grow up. When I was a child I remember playing with my Tonka Toys. Today I probably still would if the neighbors wouldn't talk and my wife have me put away. Once a boy grows up he can only relive his youth by going to a site like this and watch the big machines work. When I was a child my dream was to be a psychologist. Now my dream is to be the guy that runs the big dozer or possibly the pan.

Ask any man, if they're honest they'll tell you they envy these guys!