Human backhoes

Did you ever have a project that seems like it would never end?  It seems like we have been working on our faux-foundation for a hundred years and only now is the end somewhat in sight.  We were able to dig a portion of the foundation with an excavator but half of the dig could only be done by hand.  The best part of course, is that the front half of the house was only 2-3 feet off of the ground…it makes for lots of head bumps and crouched-over digging…and poor Emily, she is old!

WV in Fall
The view while we were working

Some people assume that I do all of the heavy work while Emily sits by and buffs her nails and stuff.  Nope…not my girl!  Emily has muled (yup, that’s my verb) 80 pound bags of concrete and 45 concrete blocks every bit as much as I did.  She dug a large part of the footer which is the only reason we got it done.  Yes, that’s right, we got it dug!

Female backhoe
Female backhoe
Male backhoe
Male backhoe

I don’t like digging or working with concrete.  It is absolutely miserable work and I am absolutely thrilled that we were only temporarily employed as human backhoes!

6 thoughts on “Human backhoes

  1. My goodness, are you still alive??
    Stating anything about a wife’s age is a legal excuse for murder you know. Muled is a proper verb when hauling heavy objects or digging in red clay. And if I were you I would get rid of that dangerous tool you were using. My first heart attack was caused by one of them things. A few well measured explosive charges would be a better alternative.

  2. When doing jobs like that, I constantly remind myself that I should be thankful that I don’t do it for a living. It also reminds me not to get in a fight with someone who does that for a living because every time I do something like that I discover muscles I never knew I had before.

  3. Yes Pa Grandma, with Warren you DO wonder what is next!!
    Emily is a hero to do all of that physical labor! I know I thought, MORE THAN ONCE, when we were doing all that work outside our house, that I was TOO OLD for it.
    That should kind of makes you glad winter is coming so you can rest.

  4. Okay, I’ll admit it: I’m SO jealous! I miss our winter projects. We can’t really do much of anything during the winter in Alaska. It’s -20 out right now and the very thought of being outside for any length of time is exhausting. In Georgia, winter was the best time to tackle projects because of the greatly reduced bug population and lack of suffocating heat.

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