Back breaking work and finally super weather

Finally, this is the weather we have all been waiting for.  A whopping 27C/80F today!  As per my observation all neighbors were out in the garden this afternoon doing some type of garden work or tinkering with their lawnmowers.  I had to do some grocery shopping today and needless to say, so did everyone else so it took longer than I liked. That is half a day wasted running around and standing in line. In the afternoon we were outside working in the garden.

Last week we rented a “Ground Hog” or trencher you can call it too.  That beast was too heavy for us to pick up so we had it delivered to the house.  Benno wanted to run PVC conduits underground from the exterior house wall to where the new shed will be built for the power cable.  From past experiences we knew that digging anywhere on our property would be a major undertaking because our soil consists of mostly clay.  When it’s dry it is hard as rock and when its wet the consistency is like molasses or rather a lot of muck. 

I started by removing a patch of gravel from the walkway next to the house. Then I cut the landscaping mat underneath it so I could start digging to remove the clay to about a foot deep.  Next I had to transplant several plants in my flowerbed because the conduit would run underneath it and I had to dig through that too.  That job took me half a day to finish and my back hurt afterwards.

Benno thought that this “Ground Hog” would make the job easy as it is supposed to be self-propelled, but far from it.  For several weeks we’ve had so much moisture saturating the grass that the ground was very damp and this trencher got already stuck after just a few feet of digging.  Boy oh boy, did we wrestle with this gooey mess.  Benno pulled and dragged this machine more than it could labor on its own through the clay.  Every few feet he stopped the machine so that I could scrape the wheel free of the accumulated muck and from underneath the machine and the teethed clay eating chain, so we could continue. Benno said it sticks like shit! (Pardon this expression)

When the trench was done, Benno glued the PVC conduits together and we buried them in the ground. I put a yellow tape marked “caution” over the pipe and filled the dirt back on top of it.  Only half of the dirt piles would fit into the cavity and we had to dispose of the rest.  My flowerbed and the gravel walkway were last to be refilled.  When all was done I was totally bushed.  Two-thirds into the digging Benno had remembered to go and get gloves to protect his hands, but by that time he already sported two big blisters on the insides of his hands.  And then we had to clean up the “Ground Hog” trencher with the pressure washer, which was quite a job, because it was totally caked up with clay. Then I called the rental company to come and pick it back up.

Next morning I inspected our handiwork and “Oh No!” I noticed that when I had covered the PVC conduit next to the house I must have somehow moved the pipe to it now ran crooked at an angle from the junction box to the ground.  I had to dig it all up again to make it right.  Crap!

While I was on my knees digging in the flowerbed this Robin bird stayed with me the whole time eying every shovel full of dirt for a potential earthworm to snatch up.  I finally went inside to get my camera and he came so close he almost bumped into me while I took his picture.

We will keep you informed, so check back in! There is more to come!
Wishing everyone a very Happy Easter! Marlene and Benno