You know we have this chicken coop and these chickens. In order for these ladies to be a bit more protected from wild animals, Dave would like a small fenced in area for when we are not home and they need to wander about. We don't want them cooped up in a coop all day - I know funny stuff, right?....another chicken joke.
So we are all set to help Dave work on the fence project. I have my work clothes on, hair in a ponytail, and gloves on. Gloves are a must when your hands spend most of your days typing at work in a 70 degree office with a nice view of the campus. I don't get a whole lot of time to achieve the calluses needed to go without gloves.
Dave has all his tools outside, I have a shovel and the girls are getting the wheel barrels. This is when Dave gives out the instructions for our individual tasks. He has Sydney helping to dig the trench to put the fence down in the ground, he has Tatum putting the clumps of sod and dirt in wheel barrels, and then he asks me to dig the post holes 2 feet deep and hands me this:
For those of you not familiar with this tool, this is a post hole digger. This appears to be easy enough to use. You shove it down into the dirt, pull handles back, and then lift out the dirt to dump outside the hole. Kinds of like salad tongs for dirt. Easy enough, right? Yeah....whatever. I kept slamming this things into the ground and teaspoons of dirt would come out. Suddenly I think back to what Dave said earlier and look at Dave "how far down do I have to dig this hole?" He smiles and says "2 feet". Hmmmmm. So I go back to digging more.
Meanwhile Syd is digging away at the trench and Dave is helping to direct how far down she needs to dig and is trying to get Tatum to stop swinging random branches around and almost hitting him. Then Syd spots a big juicy worm and Dave asks Tatum to grab it and throw it in the garden. They both look up at him like he has just asked them to pick up a rotting dead animal. Tatum goes "uh uh".
So, rolling his eyes and shaking his head Dave picks up the worm and puts it in a bucket so she doesn't have to actually touch it. You can just hear him thinking "Girls". Tatum comes back from dumping the worm, drops the bucket and runs toward the garage. We all just kind of look at each other and shrug. She comes running back out of the garage with one of Dave's camouflage winter hunting mittens on. She can barely keep it on, let alone use her hand while wearing it. Syd announces that there is another worm and Tatum yells that she will get it. She goes over to the trench, gets down and starts trying to grab the worm with this big ol mitten on her hand. She tries repeatedly until that worm has now gone back in a hole.
I'm still over trying to dig this stinkin hole for a post and I hear the sound of the post hole digger hit a big rock. "Daaaaave. I hit a rock." He comes over and digs it out with a shovel. After he digs it out I look down and figure that I must be getting close to 2 feet. He smiles, smirks and tells me to measure it. So I do - 9 inches. What??? I can see China now, and you are telling me that I have over a foot to go.
Sydney is announcing again that there are more worms and Tatum gets on her hands and knees and actually gets one with that silly glove on. She drops it in the bucket and runs off to the garden so proud of herself.
I hit another rock "Daaaaave, I hit another rock". He comes back over looking slightly exasperated with me and digs it out. Believe it or not, I was at the 2 foot mark and I could stop digging. Wooohooo. Dave comes over to inspect it and says "Good job, now this is where I want the next one". What??? Another one. Not that I don't need the workout but I was a wee bit sore already.
This back and forth went on. I hit rock after rock, Syd kept hitting rocks, and Tatum would yell "Stop" every time she spotted a worm. After a few hours at this, Sydney was getting tired and silly and Tatum had completely lost interest and was now swinging from a nearby tree and I hit another rock.
Dave is looking exhausted and I'm not exactly sure why since we are doing all the digging and shoveling of dirt around here. Sydney is now on the ground laughing because she tripped and fell, Tatum is saying she is hungry and wants to know if we can have dinner. Dave looks at me and says that I can go in and take the girls if I would like to. So I gather up some stuff and the girls and we head into the house. I look back to see Dave finally picking up a shovel to do some work and he has a relaxed happy look on his face....one that I hadn't seen all afternoon. He couldn't possibly be happy that we were now going into the house...he must be thinking about how happy he is to have all of us helpful ladies in his life. We love you too, honey :-)
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