Surely This Is Not My Kind of Work? Part 2

Welcome back. I know you've been wondering just how much, or what kind of digging I did next, haven't you? After the concrete slab area had been cleared of dirt, I set to digging downwards into the earth (on the other side of the slab) to find the stormwater pipe, which the water-tank overflow must be connected to. Tony's Dad was so sure of it's location, but as things turned out, his memory obviously played tricks on him!

I started digging where I was told, but could not find the pipe. Tony suggested moving along in a line, and he seemed confident that I would soon find it. However, after digging about 10 fox-type holes in a nice line - and still not finding this 'blasted waterpipe' (which is what I was now calling it), I started bemoaning the fact that the water-tank had to even be connected to the stormwater in the first place! I doubted we would have the amount of rain that would make an overflow pipe necessary - because I planned on using most of the water on the vegie garden, and would be grateful for enough rainwater to do just that. We do live in a dry country, after all. Please can't we just forget all this digging and I'll make sure the tank never gets over full? Please? Well, I'm sure you know the answer to that question.

One of the fox-holes


Then it was suggested I try digging in a spot to the left of the first foxhole, because perhaps the pipe was a little more that way. Sure ... no worries. I'm hot. I'm dusty. I'm frustrated. By now I'm regretting the addition of the water-tank full stop. But .... I also know if I gave up now it would be weeks before Tony could resume the job. So after a few great gulps of water, I set to digging again. At the very least it was good exercise. My 2 supervisors (Tony and his Dad) were standing nearby, full of helpful suggestions on just how to hold the spade, what part of the hole I should dig away at, etc etc. Hmmm. Bite your tongue, Debbie! I'll not make anymore comments here - after all, Tony will have a read I'm sure (hello darling husband!)

Dig dig dig. Clang. Oh my goodness, what's that? Concrete. What? Outside the slab area? Moving along a little and I recommence digging. Dig dig dig. Clang! More concrete! For what purpose we wondered? Oh... perhaps it was an old path that Grandad put down. Oh great. I could go on a whole lot about what happened next, but suffice to say it was an old concrete path.

The 1st plan of attack was that I move to the side some more and dig a new hole .. still searching for the elusive stormwater pipe which I was starting to think could be anywhere in our big old yard! I'd now started to mentally link the stormwater pipe with the holy grail...though I was prudent to not mention that piece of silliness! Digging in a new spot just led to more concrete. By now Tony's Dad was surmising that the stormwater must be UNDERNEATH the concrete path, so the 2nd plan was that I use a sledgehammer to smash away the concrete path - thereby discovering the stormwater pipe. Yes, you read correctly. A SLEDGEHAMMER! I've not ever used one before, and at this point Tony wanted me to leave the job till his rib was healed enough so he could takeover. But I was on a mission! I wanted to find that pipe - TODAY! So ... pass the sledgehammer please.

And here I'll just let the photos do the talking. This is the hard work I did






As you can see, there was no sign of the pipe underneath the path. I'd even scraped away underneath a part of the path that I'd not smashed. During this I had a few moments of thinking, "I'm nearly there, soon I'm a gonna hit this blasted pipe", but unfortunately, this didn't work either. No sign of the pipe. I even got experience in using another tool that was supposed to help. A bar - which is a long, heavy piece of steel that I was instructed to lift up, then 'just let drop'. Kinda had to do this sideways by the way, because you recall I was trying to clear dirt underneath the path, don't you?

Tony's Dad (bless his heart) was scratching his head in bewilderment. Tony said the stormwater was in this 'general area'. I was madly frustrated and praying; "please Lord, help us find this elusive pipe".

The next plan of attack was to hammer a piece of steel bar into the ground ANYWHERE Tony and his Dad THOUGHT the pipe could be. If the stormwater pipe was in that spot, I would hit it with the bar and not have to resort to digging holes here and there. So I did this where I was directed, with still no luck. Then I watched as Tony and his Dad wandered over the backyard, pointing to spots and trying to follow the paths from places where they knew definitely that a pipe lay. We were all certain of the location of the sewer pipes, because they need to be regularly cleaned of tree roots ... but the stormwater was another story.

So I was leaning against the clothesline, following all their fingerpointing, and then noticed a depression kind of channel in the lawn. I pointed it out and they said, "it could be there" ... so I just grabbed this bar and hammered it into the ground. PRAISE THE GOOD LORD, I hit something fairly soon - and would you believe....it was the stormwater pipe! I tell ya, this is exactly how it happened! Amazing! I believe the Lord made me acutely observant here; and He directed and lead my eyes to the exact spot. Oh, I was so grateful!

Unfortunately, the stormwater pipe was a good 2 metres away from where they said it was, and I then had to dig a trench back towards the watertank so they could be connected. Can you believe it? More digging! At least it was straightforward, and not very deep. I learnt how to first spade up rectangles of grass that could be replaced after the pipes were laid; and how to dig a trench spade depth and spade wide. Oh yeh, what fun. Hopefully it will be the only time I have to do this.

So here's some photos of MY trench








So, all the hard work is now done, and I'm almost delirous - or is that exhausted? Lol. Tony said he is able to lay the pipe and then once that is done, I will push the dirt back in and wedge the grass blocks back on top. My only question is "when", meaning, can you do it tomorrow please pretty please? Now honestly, how can he deny me anything since I've sweated and given all (to the point of tears once) doing this hard mens work? - and done a very fine job indeed, I might add!

Next post I'll show you the water tank in situ. Till then, God bless you :)