I just tried it again and I still don't like it. And unfortunately, I can't find another simpleton to hire to do it. Guess I'll rent a playtex light days mini backhoe. Slothfulness is a terrible and costly thing.
Posts: 27295 | Location: SW of Hovey, Texas | Registered: January 30, 2007
Got some scheduled this weekend. Replacing our rock front yard (1750 sf)with sod. So far the rock has been removed, big boulders removed, graded.
This weekend into next week I plan to install 66' of steel retaining wall/ edging and dig 220' of trench for irrigation. Made for a good excuse to buy a skid steer. Like I told the wife, "this ain't HGTV"
Posts: 1582 | Location: Near Austin, TX | Registered: December 12, 2008
I made a lot of money as a ditch digger in my younger days. It's a steady meditation.
I also learned a lot about people and their perceptions. You could change a main line by hand, killing yourself for 12-24 hours and leave the law so perfect you couldn't tell it was done. Charge them $400 and they'd balk at the price.
But you could come in with a machine, destroy the yard and charge them $900 and they'd pay it without batting an eye.
People don't mind paying for the show. But do it with a shovel and they think "oh I could have done that!"
_____________________________________________________ Sliced bread, the greatest thing since the 1911.
Originally posted by arfmel: I just tried it again and I still don't like it. And unfortunately, I can't find another simpleton to hire to do it. Guess I'll rent a playtex light days mini backhoe. Slothfulness is a terrible and costly thing.
Better idea: go shoot a 9mm revolver, instead.
הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים
Posts: 31748 | Location: Central Florida, Orlando area | Registered: January 03, 2010
25 yrs ago I worked all day every week day digging ditches and installing irrigation in South Florida heat, and then going and swimming 3000 yds after work.
If I tried that today it would likely kill me (or make me wish I was dead).
--------------------------------------- It's like my brain's a tree and you're those little cookie elves.
Several years back when I built my lawn and put in the sprinkler system, I worked my tail off. Hours and hours worth of box blading finally tore up the existing ground and graded everything off even. Then came the ditch digging for the sprinklers. My ground is about 70% rocks and 30% dirt. Not a fun task. I started out with my Kubota backhoe and while it worked, it was a PITA and overkill.
I went down to the local hardware store and rented a contraption that looked like a huge SkilSaw. Kind of a Ditch Witch with a circular blade. It worked great and I had all the lines dug in a couple of hours.
________________________________________________________ "Great danger lies in the notion that we can reason with evil." Doug Patton.
Posts: 21041 | Location: Montana | Registered: November 01, 2010
-- Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past me I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. --
Posts: 17811 | Location: New Mexico | Registered: October 14, 2005
Most young folks today don't know what a shovel is for. When I was a young teen on the farm my Dad and I were digging a ditch for drain tiles. He told me if I didn't get a good education, I would end up doing that kind of work for the rest of my life. So I went off and got a couple of college degrees and had a couple good careers. So here I am retired back on the ranch, and sure enough I am still digging postholes and ditches in my late 60's. The moral of the story: Once a ditch digger, always a ditch digger.
