Learning the Hard Way: A Hydrant Install That Taught Us a Big Homestead Lesson

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]So, we've owned this property for over 10 years, this five acres, and now we're getting closer to being able to be out on the ground longer as we're getting water hooked up. We've got electrical hooked up and originally we just had this shed. So, we're slowly building this property up so we can spend more and more time out here on the farm. We intended on moving out here in a faster pace, but life always is chaotic. You're always waiting for life to slow down and guess what? It never does. So, we're going to right now go ahead and start the process to get us out here because we're done waiting today. We're going to be fixing some of that by adding water so that we can spend more time in our RV. Unfortunately, we ran into a major snag. I hit it with the excavator. I broke it. All right, bad news. So, I just ended up I was trying to do some grading next to the hydrant that I just put in. Um, it was working well and I had the boom side boomed um over the so I could see the the blade in front of me and you can see right here.

[00:01:00]Um, well, that's no good. That's no good.

[00:01:06]>> Oh my goodness.

[00:01:08]>> So, yep. We get to have another exercise in digging down 6 ft.

[00:01:16]Rip the threads out.

[00:01:18]So, this project had already taken so much of our time between digging the trench, laying the line, burying it, and placing one hydrant in one hose bib. The last grading pass by this hydrant is what did it though. And there's no other choice than to dig this hydrant back up, remove it, because guys, it was a total loss. It completely bent it over and we had to replace it.

[00:01:46]All right. So, guys, I think we got this dug down. So, see right down there?

[00:01:51]That's that gravel base that I put into it. I did this so that when I'm working down in there, I don't have just straight sides. Yes, that side over there is going to be straight, but I wanted to cut this back just a little bit. Um, but yeah, I'm going to jump down in there and see.

[00:02:08]Caught it with the excavator. Caught it with the excavator.

[00:02:14]That hurt.

[00:02:28]Tractor time is basically like therapy for me. So, I was really enjoying this project. But when the digging is to fix my own mistake, my parents don't have any water while I do it, and I'm running out of daylight and weekend. I'm beginning to just push to get this done.

[00:02:44]All right. You probably can't even hardly see me right now. It's getting to be dark. Um, but I got most of the dirt cleaned up over here. Let's go ahead and get this switched around and make sure.

[00:02:55]So, we got most of the dirt cleaned up.

[00:02:56]I was just, like I said, just packing around this thing, but that is what we got. Um, we should be able to unscrew that. Put a pipe wrench down there.

[00:03:05]Unscrew that. unscrew the and screw the new one on after I put some um pipe tape on it and then put it on and then we'll turn on the water. See how it is and then we will probably just dump rock around the bottom. So probably the first foot foot and a half we'll probably just do rock and then um we should be able to back fill with dirt. So it really shouldn't be that bad. It's just the cost of yeah screwing up.

[00:03:35]So guys, you saw the uh you probably can't see me because it's night, but we are headed to Menard's. They have two hydrants in stock, but we're only going to need one. We only needed the one that we originally got, but then I destroyed it with the excavator trying to do my final grading.

[00:03:51]It's too bad we know where these are.

[00:03:53]So, while they're online, uh inventory showed two. I am glad that they had at least the one left in stock here. The other one I probably would have had to get a pliers and rip it off the rack on top cuz I think it was wired as a display. So thankful that we got one right here, guys.

[00:04:12]This is the one we mangled.

[00:04:14]That's it. So now we're about $450 into this $225 hydrant project, but water is an essential out here on the homestead.

[00:04:22]And it's not just a want, it's a need.

[00:04:23]And so this is a mustave. We had gotten back from Menard's really late the night before because we were trying to get there before they closed and pick up that one precious hydrant that we could bring home. We also wanted to try to get it started in the replacement steps because well, we needed to make sure it wasn't leaking underground once we put the new one on and before we started back filling. We wanted to make sure there was no leakage and we wanted to make sure grandma and grandpa for row had minimal uh water impact to them. So, we got back late that night. It was dark. We ended up unscrewing it, screwing the new one back on, and then we waited. So, we went to church on Sunday, ended up coming back out to the farm and no leaking. So, we started back filling with some gravel at the bottom, and then we started just going back and forth with the K Cabota, loading dirt, scoop after scoop. And as we started getting closer to the top, I started basically packing it uh with the tractor. But we needed to get most of the hole filled up first. And so, the biggest step is trying to make sure my loader is level. Um, so I'm not just digging little ruts out here all over, which is tends to be a problem. Um, but yes, that is what happens is I just dig random little holes because I can't tell if my loader is level or not. Uh, so little tractor, little holes, and Sarah always knows where I've been because it's not the smoothest when I get done pushing around. But, uh, yes, so back and forth. That is the beauty of having a hydrostatic transmission. Um, it is a little tractor. It definitely can get overwhelmed with trying to pick up things, but it tries its little heart out. had its orange little heart uh going back and forth here. I should have put my cutter tooth or my tooth bar should have spun it around so the tooth bar was exposed. Um but I still had the flat cutting edge from do moving snow for the winter which we really didn't have any. So I guess I'll do that every year. Bring the bring the smooth edge out. We don't get any snow. Um, but yes, as I was getting closer to the top, Sarah was just getting more and more nervous, having flashbacks from the night before of me coming and knocking on the camper door saying, "Hey, we got a problem.

[00:06:33]If only you were as levelheaded as I made that.

[00:06:41]It's too far to the uh north.

[00:06:44]>> It is.

[00:06:46]>> Needs to tip to the south just a teeny bit. Check it.

[00:06:49]>> It's level.

[00:06:52]It's level. You can come check it.

[00:06:54]>> Yeah, except that's southeast.

[00:06:56]>> Yep. If they even put it on the north side, it's still the same.

[00:07:13]I'm not going to care if it's aimed just a little bit that way. But if it's like this, I'm going to care.

[00:07:19]>> Come and check it yourself right here.

[00:07:21]>> Not going to care. It's too cold out.

[00:07:24]>> It's perfect both ways.

[00:07:26]>> Okay.

[00:07:28]It's too cold for me.

[00:07:32]This is kind of like a wedding. Speak now or forever hold your peace.

[00:07:40]Don't be hitting me up in the comments later being like, "I wish I would have done this.

[00:07:56]You're so helpful.

[00:08:01]Better kind of better.

[00:08:16]So guys, you're all aware. Happy wife, happy life. And honestly, moving that hydrant just a little bit makes her happy. So that's what we ended up doing.

[00:08:23]I'm just going to keep moving dirt here.

[00:08:25]I start driving around with a bucketload of dirt to provide some extra weight to the front tires. And as I got closer and closer to that hydrant, all of a sudden, Sarah turned into like this mother bird protecting her nest of eggs. And she kept hovering around the hydrant. And I kept getting closer and closer. And I actually realized I probably could have gotten a little bit closer because there's some mud on the tire that didn't get scraped off. So that means I at least had another quarter of an inch. I could see out my window. I could see how close I was. So, she didn't need to be a worrying, but she was so like cat on a hot tin roof sitting there with her camera being like, "You're getting close to my eggs. Back off." But plenty of room.

[00:09:07]>> Plenty of room.

[00:09:09]Plenty of room.

[00:09:13]So, I may have had to check just to see how close I got. But as I got closer and closer, Sarah all of a sudden turned into like a protester standing by her favorite tree that she wasn't going to let anybody cut down. So, if I'm going to run it over, I'm running over her toes. But again, got the dirt in the bucket to provide some extra weight to the front tires cuz the K Cabota is a light little guy and that just adds some extra weight. But look how close she's getting. She doesn't even let me get close enough to pack next to it because well, you run over the hydrant, you run over me.

[00:10:00]No.

[00:10:07]>> Yeah. He says he's just going to finish it out. But that was what happened last time. Is that me, too?

[00:10:27]So, I'm trying to just pack the last layers here and uh just got a last few little passes to do. Uh really close. I was also in this stage before when we ended up bending it over. So, we are just doing some final passes um to smooth out the top and then this project will be done. While this might look like a hydrant that's just sticking out of the ground, to us it's like a major step to moving to the country and starting our family homestead. We've had this idea like a long time, like way too long, that our lives are going to slow down and we'll be able to build our home place, raise livestock, you know, like I love animals, um, and do all the things that feed John's soul and feed our boys' souls. Like they love the country. I love the country. But life has totally not slowed down. Not even for a second.

[00:11:13]It just keeps getting busier. Like over 10 years ago, I said, "We shouldn't start with a shed. We should start with a house." And now we're realizing that it was totally true. John loves our shed. The boys love our shed. They spend like the whole day working out there on things. But at the end of the day, you go home and we're going home to a house in town when where we want to be is in the country or traveling. Um, so we're finally to the point where we're looking at each other saying, "We're never going to do this if we don't do it now." So John's downfall, I love him to death, but he wants to DIY everything. We're budget conscious, um, but totally time poor. So that's where RV living comes in. That's where JD comes in. Utilizing what we have to get to the location that we want to get to. We still want to travel. Um, literally, we love seeing new places, seeing new people. Um, so we want to travel still, but we also want our home place. So this is how we're doing the best of both worlds. And this project was totally the stepping stone um for for starting everything off.

[00:12:17]>> We'll definitely have to do some finish grading, but let's let it settle for right now. But guys, the moment of truth. Are you ready to see this hydrant? Come on.

[00:12:27]Okay, guys. You ready?

[00:12:32]>> Oh, that's dirty.

[00:12:36]>> We got water, guys.

[00:12:41]And we're keeping it in the ground, not knocking it over again. Right.

[00:12:46]>> And that was plenty far away.

[00:12:48]>> What?

[00:12:49]>> Plenty far.

[00:12:50]>> Too far, actually. Like too much.

[00:12:52]>> Mhm.

[00:12:54]>> All right, guys. That is one step done for us being able to be here out on the homestead for full-time living. But hey, let us know down in the comments if you guys have ultimately put off a project and finally got it started. We'd love to hear about that. And you know what? If you're not subscribed, go ahead, smash crash. Go ahead and hit that subscribe button. And hey, we'll see you next time.