Smoked

Wow, am I wiped...J had the day off and we have been doing yardwork since 10:30 this morning and it is now 5pm our time.

I had four biggish plants to put in the ground and then he decided he wanted to move one of our little dogwoods from one spot to another. This is the time of year to do it, so he started the digging while I was planting my four plants.

He managed to break off the handle on one of our shovels....ugh!! I swear that man breaks everything. Anyhow, after I finished up my plants, I moved over to help him. He had finished the new hole and had started digging around the tree. The tree is about 5 ft in diameter and 5 ft tall. So we were trying to save as many roots as possible, which meant moving a lot of dirt. Once we got the outside cut out, we started digging under the tree to loosen it up. Fortunately, dogwoods have a shallow root system and it reaches out about as far as the branches. Unfortunately, we had a long way to go to get under the whole thing and get it moved without killing it.

At 1:30pm we stopped for Powerbars and water. We were both covered in sand and couldn't wait to finish up so we could get cleaned up and get in the hot tub....inspiration for sure to get done. Oh, did I mention that we are supposed to have severe thunderstorms here tonight (which means hail and possible tornados)? That was even more incentive to get back at it and try to get it done.

We went back to work and did finally get the tree free of the ground but we mainly ended up moving very little dirt (none really) and just a huge amount of tree and roots. It was kind of weird because once we had it out, it kind of looked like a mirror image of itself. Branches on the top (with no leaves on them) and root spread out the same on the bottom.


So we got it planted, both holes filled back in and the dirt (sand) covered back up with pinestraw. I started cleaning up our mess of tools and such, and J decided we should wash both the truck and the car while we were outside and already grimey. So we did that, and let me tell you, my arms and back are done. My fingernails hurt because I was digging the roots out of the ground with my fingers and the pressure on my fingernails for so long just made them tender.

I have now eaten a proper lunch (even though it was very late) and have soaked in the hot tub for 15 minutes. I might have to go in it again if it is not thundering later. Right now, it is starting to look very dark and stormy out...we'll see if we get any exciting weather. I hope so, I always love a good storm.