Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Dirt Pusher

Through the months stacked upon months of rain I watched as my unfinished yard turned into a mecca of weeds. But yesterday gave me hope and today I am sunburned, walking hunched from tight shoulders and a sore back... yet I keep on going.

Last week we also had a day without rain for a few hours so I got out this little rotter tiller thinking I would go over the yard and save myself a lot of time... little did I know that this tiller is a masochist. With every pull it sorta starts, then dies fueling my hopes and making me try "one more time". Then, laughing as it did, it would finally start and run for more than a second. I get it into place and start tilling a line, then - boom, it dies again. Over and over this happened. When the little 87 year-old neighbor, Joe, poked his head out and asked if he could help I knew my time was up. Later that night Erick swore it was me as I swore (literally) that it wasn't and if HE was such a hot shot, then go ahead and get it to work.

Oh sweet gratification!. He tried, and tried, and sprayed some things, and tried, and took some things apart, and tried, and tried once more before he too gave in to a hopeless cause. Nothing was said, no looks were given. He knew.

So yesterday while pulling or hand raking weeds I was also very slowly pulling down the little hill we have left in the front. There will always be a slight incline to the wall, but as of yesterday there was nothing slight about the hill. Erick was a sweet heart and got a 1/2 yard of dirt. (So little because our little truck is gutless and that's all it can handle at a time on a good day). However, because of the rain, the dirt was saturated and was basically clay. Lumpy, non-spreadable crappy clay. In response I have learned to take dirt from one part of the yard for the use of another part and when (if) the dirt we buy dries out, then we can fill in the holes later. I dug the dog run area down about 6 inches. Not really necessary, I admit, but this dirt gave way for the flower bed under the trees in the front, and it helped fill in holes in the back. The already existing flower beds also got a dig-down. This dirt created new flower beds in the back and began the "de-hilling" process in the front.

Tomorrow I am sure I will be out of places to take dirt so I will get the back yard ready for grass! Yay for three rainless days!! Also, we haven't had solid grass back there sense we moved in and having a big dog doesn't help, so it's about time we did!!