Filling the Trench
2006.07.15
Well, now it’s time to fill the trench back in. I bought a hand tamper at Lowes to help pack it down in the hole. Of course, I know that no matter how tight I pack the trench, I’ll never get all the clay back in there.
I started around 8:30 this morning. I shoveled in a few inches of dry, crumbly clay, packed it down with my feet (couldn’t get the tamper down in the narrow deep part of the trench), and then watered it with the garden hose. After letting the water trickle down for a while, I mashed it down with my feet again, and started another round. Eventually I could start using the tamper. I stopped around noon, and gave it another good soaking with the hose.
Nate came by and we went to lunch, and then to a friend’s house in the West Hills, where they have been working on a massive digging project of their own. They begged Nate to take some of the huge pile of dirt they don’t need, so I helped load up the back of his truck. As if I hadn’t been running a shovel enough today.
This evening I headed back out to work on the trench some more, after mowing the lawn. At one point, I lost my balance while tipping the wheelbarrow, and it fell down into the hole, slamming down on the edge of the driveway in the process. This split one of the arms down near where the axle bolts on. I put a clamp on it to keep it together for now, but I’ll have to try to fix that eventually. I only worked for about an hour, but I got another layer dumped in, packed down, and watered.
Looks like I’ve actually made a dent in the dirt pile on the driveway.
2006.07.16
More trench filling this morning, I worked for a couple hours.
Installing Bamboo Barrier