In Need of Bigger Equipment

We started out digging out that darn trench for the electrical to the barn, and before long we realized that the thing wasn’t going to cut it. KB picked up the Ditch Witch from Upper Valley Equipment and brought it over. The thing wasn’t that small, it looked pretty impressive to me, not unlike a huge chainsaw on wheels. It was a little daunting to run, with all sorts of controls for the wheel speed/direction and chain speed/direction. KB brought it over and started running it, but he admitted that it was his first time using such a thing, and that he had to leave at some point, leaving me to my own devices. Great.

After a while it became clear that the machine was best used with two people, because it helps to have someone clear and remove rocks as they clog up the inner workings of the machine. I went down to my knees to get some of them and it felt like a hammer hitting my kneecap. Talk about pain (though I couldn’t be a sissy around KB).

It was slow going, and eventually GD showed up and was surprised at how small the thing was. He thought we were going to get a small tractor/ditch witch, because once we hit the hard pack, the thing was going to be tough, not that they weren’t already.

After about an hour, we got about 20% of the way, but we hit a huge rock, and for the life of us, we couldn’t get that thing out. After struggling for about 45 minutes, it became clear to us that we needed a bigger machine, preferably something with a backhoe. GD’s friend down the road has one and he called him. We arranged for him to come over on Sunday and finish the big dig. I’m slaged to help GD lay the pipe and run the wire, so I’m not off the hook, at least not yet.

Until then, thanks for reading.