Monday February 6, 2023 Guerneville CA.
Ditch digging day
I’d told my brother Tom I’d help him dig a new ditch to replace his old water main and today was the day we were getting started on it.
We went over to his garden area and got his backhoe installed on his tractor with a bit of difficulty, but persistence pays off and we got it attached.
Repairing my shovel
Then I got my shovel and I knew I needed to do a repair on it’s blade as I’ve been hitting a lot of rocks with it building trails up in the hills and the blade at the digging edge was rolled over a bit and needed to be pounded back into shape.
This is the part that needed to be fixed. I did some pounding on it until it was smooth again.
You’d think
Now, you’d think with a backhoe I wouldn’t have much to do, but there were complications. It was a bit too tight to get the backhoe in here to dig and there were some plastic pipes crossing between the buildings for electrical and water and they needed to be found so they didn’t get broken. All that meant is, by-hand , was the only way to go here which was going to be my job. He was going to use the backhoe to dig in an area that was full of redwood roots, so the spot he was going to work on would be even harder as the redwood roots are everywhere around here from the huge redwood trees around the house area.
Hunting up the pipes
I started by looking for the electric pipes which I eventually found. There was supposed to be a water line crossing in this spot too, but it was no where to be found here, so I was going to have to hunt for it with the shovel.
I finally found the white water line so now it was safe for me to dig with the shovel without being concerned about breaking pipes.
Tired out
After working on digging for about 4 hours I stopped for the day and went back to my place for a break.
At least I got a good start on it. My brother was having a hard time with the backhoe getting through all the redwood roots as some of them are rather large.
Done for the day.
Chickens
Back at my place, the chickens where begging to get out into the front yard to graze so I let them out. They have plenty of other places to graze throughout the day. I only let them in the front yard for a few hours late in the day.
Daffs
More of them are blooming and there are a lot more to come.
I chair hopped around the yard with the chickens, just resting up and enjoying the nice day.
The chickens where busy doing their thing, looking for bugs and worms and any other stuff they can find to eat.
Nice day.
I miss daffodils.
There’s a technique to using a shovel …. but even at that, it’s hard work. At least you’ve had rain to soften it up a bit. I’m glad to see the daffodils … does that mean it’s spring? I put in my order with Mother Nature, but she’s not answering her phone calls.
Ah a successful day. And happy chickens and daffodils. What else could a person want. (I once broke a plastic water pipe with my shovel. I was very embarrassed, but called the plumber anyway. At the time I was very tired of mending white pipe and black pipe. I do not miss that about living in a country house where my father had done the plumbing, thinking, Oh, that’s not going to freeze, it’s deep enough. A carefree man, in many ways, a lot of fun mostly. Though my mother had warned him. Not a carefree woman. But she could be fun too.)
Good post Bob,
I totally agree with you, there is no substitute for a good shovel man! Exposing the substructures is essential, less expensive and a safer job. Good old fashion hard labor, sometimes seems to be forgotten these days of artificial intelligence and such. Hope to get out and visit you before too long. It sounds like things are going well!
Ken