Lots of groundwater, a condition one might reasonably expect when pushing toward cattails, which are nature’s way of saying, “Come any closer and you’re going down, son.” Not conducive to using the bucket to lift up the machine to walk it out backwards. In fact, what you are looking at is the result of repeated attempts at that technique.
Almost out.
Unstuck.
This is old news for Captain OCD and it got unstuck with the help of a brother-in-law/next-door-neighbor (in the hat), a 1-1/2 ton ratchet chain puller (when I asked if it was strong enough to pull the machine out, I was laughed at, but such ignorance is to be expected from someone who doesn’t know how to walk a belt onto a pulley), a tree, a truck, and a hand shovel. The tree (about 18 inches in diameter) nearly gave what’s left of its life (I noticed just last week that it’s dead except for one low branch), but when Captain OCD noticed it moving more than the Bobcat, he decided that there were better ways to begin a day than to have a large tree fall on top of his truck and the Bobcat stuck in the mud. Because I knew that it wouldn’t stay stuck for long, my main concern was that this detour had used up all the blackberry-clearing time. I got home after dark today but was assured that the job is almost done, and will be completely done tomorrow.
