Pickaxe

Adina has been wanting to plant a tree in the back yard for some time, and I've been fighting it for a couple of reasons:

1. It's hot in these here parts.
2. There be a lot of rocks in that there dirt.

We've had lots of rain lately, which has helped cool things off a little bit, and has made the dirt a bit softer. However, there are still rocks rampaging through the dirt.

Enter the pickaxe. I wish I'd thought of buying one of these earlier. Last time we tried digging a hole (to plant some cacti in), we ended up planting them in pots instead because it was nearly impossible to dig a hole in that dirt with just a shovel. Adina mentioned something about a pickaxe, and I decided that was a great idea.

A pickaxe is a rather heavy piece of equipment. I think the head on this one weighs 15 pounds or so, which isn't all that much until you start swinging. I should probably dig more holes just to get the exercise, because that was a pretty good workout. Adina had already dug about half the hole, so I didn't have that much to do, but I was sweating a lot by the time I was done. My arms were sore, too, which made my attempts to play a computer game (that involved lots of mouse movement) a losing battle.

I must admit, however, that it was fun swinging that thing around and beating the dirt into submission. Perhaps I should dig some holes for the cacti now, and maybe dig up the stump of the lemon tree that Thaddeus killed.