24 June 2011

Busy, busy day.  My phone died, so I woke up when I felt like it and headed into town to check my internet.  I figured it was probably around 10am, but it was only 8:30am so I had LOTS of time to get things done in town.
At 2pm, Randy (the hauling guy I hired) brought up my culvert piece and ceremoniously dumped it off the trailer in the direction I pointed to.  It tumbled down the hill, took out one sapling, and stopped.  I paid him and he left.
Next, I pushed, pulled, tugged, and rolled the culvert until it was positioned just next to the hole.
And then I hesitated.  Do I roll it in and hope it tilts the right way?  Do I tilt it up and try to slide/pull it in?  Should I wait for someone else?  Right.  I went for the roll and tilt method and it almost worked, until I fidgeted with it and it slid the wrong way and wedged itself in horizontally instead of vertically.  Damn.
It took me another hour of hauling on it with a rope, pushing on it with my feet, and finally crawling in the hole with it and pushing it up, to finally get it vertically.  It was finally vertical, although not quite in the right spot yet.  And I was definitely not in the right spot.  I was stuck between the culvert and the hole, and tried for about ten minutes to scrabble and/or climb my way out.  Both the culvert and the dirt were too slippery to get a good foothold.  It was too high and my arm strength isn't good enough to haul myself out like a seal - the jump and land on my belly and haul method.  I was stuck.
First, I laughed.  I had imagined something like this could happen but didn''t think it really would.  And I laughed because I was sure I could think of something.  I had my cell phone on me, but I wasn't about to call or text anyone.  Can you imagine: "Help.  I'm stuck in a deep hole and can't get out."  No.
So finally, I dragged into the hole one of the larger 40-50 pound boulders and used it to step on and then it was an easy maneuver and I was out.  I had hesitated to do that, because, although I was out, the 40 pound boulder was now completely in my way.
The next task was to shift the culvert into place, which included lifting it over the 10 inch high boulder.  I pushed and shoved and dug out around it and heaved up on the culvert with all my strength, and bit by bit, got it over the boulder and into place.  Whew.

That was a lot of work.  But now it's in place and I'm a bit proud of myself that I was able to do it all by myself.  (I really didn't think I was going to be able to!)
I don't have any pictures of my awkward climbing and lunging attempts, but I will eventually get pictures posted of the finished product, and you can imaging the rest.