Huntsmans: Story of a Yard

Yes we are the Hole-y Huntsmans. In fact a few of our neighbors have dubbed Trent, Trench Huntsman. We have been digging one hole after another hole after another hole in our yard this year.

The first two holes were to fix major sprinkler problems. Last Christmas we came home to a pipe that had burst in the backyard and a nice pool of water. Then this Spring, Trent found another valve that was leaking and making the ground sink. We decided to tackle both of those problems and move the second valve box out of the area Trent drives over. Trent was hoping to borrow a track hoe to dig the 8 foot hole that was necessary but it fell through. He tried and tried and postponed digging the big hole but could not get any equipment. Our lawn was dying and Trent had a plumber friend lined up to come put in the technical stuff so Trent started digging with a pick and shovel. He was so tired and his back was already hurting from digging the "smaller" hole for the first valve. He just felt frustrated that we always have to do things the hard way. Well, it was really hard digging. Then we found out why we weren't able to get a back hoe. It was actually a blessing! Even though we had called Blue Stakes to come out and do their marking, they missed a line. A foot and a half down Trent found the main wire lines. They didn't have a conduit around them and Trent could have easily ripped them out with one scoop in a track hoe. An expensive mistake for sure, not to mention the fact that Trent could have been electrocuted!

Well we got all that put back together and got the sprinklers going without incident. Wahoo!

Then on to the front yard. That part all started with the flooding in our basement last July. It had been flooding in Grandma and Grandpa Patch's basement off and on for years but last year with the heavy rains it really did a number on the bedroom downstairs. We decided sooner rather than later we should tackle that problem. We also decided it would be better to get rid of the decorative bars from the windows downstairs so we would be able to have a fire escape -a requirement for foster care and generally a good idea, don't you think?

We had to dig up and transplant about 50 of grandma's irises from the area wells out front right as they were starting to bloom. Then we pulled out 30 huge rocks that lined the well. Luckily, Trent had a friend that lent us a back hoe to do the heavy lifting, though it did tear up our lawn. The next week we had a track hoe to do the other side. Our neighbors loved watching Trent rip out a dead tree and a couple of huge cherry tree stumps as well. He drew a little crowd. The neighbor kids have been over to help off and on.

Then it was sprinklers to fix in the front yard, digging more holes to install more window wells in the backyard, trenching all the way around the back and side of the house to put in a new water line, more sprinklers to fix, excavating a deep hole to put in a door from the basement, and for an encore, we will be doing some more digging in conjunction with the well in the backyard.

Trent has done most of the work. He's so good at figuring how to get everything done on a Slim Jim budget. I'm amazed that he knows how to do so many different things. I'm not too terrible with a shovel and a wheel barrow. However, don't let me drive a skid steer. Trent says I was "crazy bad" in it. In my defense I only had a minute or two of training and I felt like Hiccup in How to Train Your Dragon trying to remember all the combinations for turns and bucket lowering. I was fired from the job in less than 10 minutes. Oh well.