Spade work

There’s some sort of conspiracy going on, I’m convinced! My husband is now resorting to some pretty underhand tactics to convince me that in fact, yes, we DO need that mini digger…

So, as it’s February, there has been minimal gardening work going on, especially as it’s not really a garden, it’s more of a swamp at the moment. However, we have been doing some big landscaping – getting rid of the odd (and massive) turning circle that the previous owner had in front of the house. I’m sure it was very useful for all of her friends that were chauffeured (the only reason I can think of for having it) but seeing as how the only place to park was around said turning circle, and it blocked the view of the rest of the garden, we decided that it had to go. What I personally didn’t decide, but hubby initiated with some sneaky digger-hiring when I was out, was that the work should begin at the end of summer and over winter. (Guess which genius hired the mini digger on the last bank holiday in August. We then had a massive hole for all of the water to fill over winter. Brilliant. )

Finally, a few weeks ago, we had a big load of stone delivered (60 tonnes) and, once again, our friend the mini digger was hired, along with his slightly more menacing cousin, the roller. Luckily, both hubby and his brother (who is also easy amused with heavy machinery) resisted the temptation to roll over any of the children. They did an excellent job of shifting all 60 tonnes of small stone into the gaping holes, but there just wasn’t quite enough stone to go round. Not a problem – more stone was ordered. But it didn’t arrive until the mini digger and roller had been carted off back home. 

This means that we have almost 20 tonnes of stone sat on our drive. This needs to be moved by hand. That’s a lot of wheelbarrows, friends. A LOT. As hubster started shovelling it late last night (Friday) so that ‘he had less to do’ tomorrow, a twinge of guilt meant that I did promise him that I would help the next day. After all, I’ve been off for half term, so for once don’t have a scary amount of school work to catch up on, and the house is slightly less grim than usual. 

3 hours, 2 very sore wrists, and a continuing inability to grip anything later, we are only about half way through the pile. He has been good, and only mentioned how quickly it would have been done if we had our own mini digger the once. Which meant I have only been tempted to use the spade for something other than shovelling once, too…

To be honest, weeding doesn’t suddenly seem so bad. Roll on spring!