Ibuprofen for Dinner

This weekend was spent digging.

Lots and lots of digging.

We're building a retaining wall in the back of our property so we can install a fence. There's a 3' dropoff down to the neighbor's yard, so just putting a fence wouldn't cut it. A block retaining wall is easy in theory, but digging a level 50' length can be tough. Especially when a giant mangled weed tree (Ailanthus altissima) is in your way. There is a giant o ne in the neighbor's yard that has produced lots of small trees from the underground roots and the seed pods. We had a widowmaker growing in our yard -- 18 inch diameter tree growing sideways at a 30 -40 degree angle. It had to go. It was unhealthy and dangerous. So Ken rented a chainsaw and I had a rope -- Ken would cut as I'd pull the branches so they wouldn't crash down on the neighbor's new fence. It took us about an hour to get it all down. Perfect -- except for the massive rootball that was still in the way of the fence. We tried pulling it out with Ken's truck, but it wasn't budging and Ken's tires were spinning. So we went for reinforcements and rented a stump grinder. A massive, massive machine with thumb-sized giant nubs on its rotating front blade. Ken removed the stump in about 20 minutes. The nasty clay dirt became incorporated with the new "mulch". Bonus. But we weren't quite finished -- there were still plenty of roots in the way of the retaining wall thanks to smaller tree shoots that had popped up over the years. In total, we tackled 4 of the neighbor's stumps (all shoots from that same tree). We worked all day Saturday and ate ibuprofen for dinner.


Yesterday I woke up to Ken already digging. He took a break and then I started digging. Then he came back out and we both continued digging. Ugh. We were about 90% finished when we left for his flag football game at 3. Then we couldn't bear the thought of digging more, so we went out with some friends for beer and wings instead. We stayed at the bar until it would be too dark to dig when we got home. It was a good choice. More ibuprofen. And sleep. We're exhausted and I can feel everything in my back muscles today. But we're almost there. I am so thankful for that stump grinder. And Ken. We made a great team.