The Trench Up the Hill

We were back out at the property again, and this time fall had definitely arrived.

It had rained that morning, and the colors were really starting to change. Fall is my favorite time of year, so I was pretty happy about it. Everything looked so beautiful with the rain still on the leaves. The colors were brighter, and the water droplets made everything sparkle.

Greg and I drove out at the same time Saturday morning. While he was getting everything set up, I wandered around with my camera taking pictures of all the fall colors, rain droplets and anything else that caught my eye.

Once Greg had everything ready, I put my camera away and got ready to actually help.

Unfortunately, we discovered that we didn’t have the right bits for the jackhammer.

We had finished the drainfield, so now we were starting on the trench that would run from the drainfield to the septic tank. Greg had brought a 20-pound jackhammer for me and a 60-pound one for himself. Except the bits we had for the 60-pound hammer weren’t sliding in.

So…back to town we went.

We got the right bits and headed back out to the property. By the time we got back, it was lunchtime, so we ate and then got to work.

I have to be honest. I could barely even hold the 20-pound jackhammer.

But I did it.

I was working on the trench from the drainfield up toward the hill while Greg started at the bottom of the hill and worked his way up. If I thought shoveling and raking the drainfield was hard, this was on a completely different level.

I would use the jackhammer to break up the rocks, trying to control the thing while it was bouncing all over the place. Then I’d stop, grab the pick and break things up some more before shoveling everything out.

And it wasn’t just a matter of digging a hole. We had to make sure the trench was wide enough, deep enough and level.

I can’t even imagine how difficult it was for Greg doing the same thing with a 60-pound jackhammer while working his way up a hill. I didn’t even attempt to lift the 60-pound hammer. I knew how heavy the 20-pound one was and knew I would hardly be able to even lift it.

Once I finished my section, I grabbed the shovel and followed behind Greg. He would jackhammer for a while, then use the pick to break up the dirt and push it toward me. Then I’d shovel it out.

We worked together like that for a few hours.

By the time we were done, we had absolutely no arms left.

We had planned on making something for dinner, but neither one of us could barely lift our arms anymore, so we decided to make life easier and drove into town for dinner at the Gold Mine. We took a quick shower, as we were both covered in dirt and then headed to Idaho City. It was such a nice night there. A band was playing some live music outside in the back. We listened to a few songs after dinner and then headed back.

After we got back, we started a fire and turned the BSU game on the radio so we could listen while we hung out.

Of course, I entertained myself by taking pictures of the fire and the sky.

And because apparently sitting around relaxing isn’t really a thing for Greg, he decided he needed one more project. He added some more supports to the backs of our chairs.

I didn’t spend the night this time. I wanted to get back home and get some things done around the house on Sunday.

Greg stayed at the property, and Jayse came out Sunday to help him continue digging the trench up the hill. They made it about halfway up before calling it a day.

And in Greg’s “down time” LOL, he also managed to sew up some of the canvas on our popup that is falling apart and put more supports in the roof of our Crap Shack so it will be ready for the snow load.

So, yeah…apparently there was plenty to keep him busy.

It was a beautiful weekend up there. Even though so much of what we’re doing is really hard work, we still have a good time.

I think that’s one of the things about this place. We work our butts off, get completely exhausted, find ourselves covered in dirt, and somehow still end the weekend thinking, *that was a pretty good weekend.*