Heavy Labor

Basic math principal: getting older + not staying in shape + too much hard labor to do + too little money to hire other people to do it = a sore, sore body!

This last week, we did our final push to finish up with the work deemed necessary by outside sources. Before the inspections this week, I wanted the place cleaned up. Not only would this forestall any issues with piles of (de)construction debris, it would increase curb appeal for putting the property on the market.

In just a day and a half, I pruned and shaped six of the mesquites along one side of the yard. For the landscaping crews that work in this area, that would be nothing to brag about, but they have at least a couple of guys wielding power tools. I have me wielding hand tools. Okay, I'll admit it. I enlisted my sweetie's help with cutting one thick branch with the pruning saw because I was getting worn out. And the kid we'd hired to do some weed-eating helped clean up the fallen branches while I went to physical therapy.

The next day, I tackled another three trees but did not make it nearly as far before running out of steam. I succeeded in opening up the view from the street, though, which was what I'd been aiming for. When a house is up for sale, potential buyers want to be able to see it when they drive by. They have a nice view now. Unfortunately, my dogs also have a nice view now ... of every single person and dog that walks by on the street!

My original plan was to do all the pruning - and we're talking a lot because these poor trees had obviously been neglected for years - and then rent a truck, load up all the debris and brush, and haul it off to the landfill. I'd done my best to get others to haul off as much as possible for re-use: building materials still usable and branches big enough for burning. However, by this time my brush pile had grown to almost 10 cubic feet, and the pile of broken block and concrete was up to at least a ton of material. It was time to call in the cavalry.

After browsing through the haulers in the area and dozens of ads on craigslist, I settled on some folks who live in my area. It seemed to make more sense to "hire local" than call in someone from the opposite side of town. They came by the same day and gave me an estimate. They wanted to charge an extra $100 just to take a cement pad the excavators said they'd be kind enough to haul off after their work (and then tossed in the bushes with their front loader when I wasn't home).

Now I understand that the weight would increase their tipping fees, but certainly not by $100! Part of their reasoning was the labor involved in hauling this off. The slab was 5 inches thick and measured 4 feet by 4 feet. By the calculations I did later on cement.com, it probably weighed approximately 970 pounds. The guys would not just be picking this up and tossing it in the trailer! It had a slight crack down the middle that we hoped they'd be able to encourage to break the thing in half.

After they left, with plans to come back the next afternoon to load up, I got out my sledgehammer to see what I could do with it. The crack, unfortunately, was not deep enough to split the piece and even using a heavy drop bar on it had no impact. Out of frustration, I slammed the sledgehammer down on the corner of the pad and Voila! A piece began to crack off. I nibbled away at the pad's edges, working my way in, and gradually broke the entire thing up. It took a couple of hours and a whole lot of sweat, but I got it done and hauled the pieces over to the other pile...which now looked huge.

I called up the haulers and asked for a significant discount for doing the labor. Sadly, they were only willing to cut the price by $40. Breaking that sucker up and hauling it the 50 yards to the other pile was not worth saving $40, a fact my body has been reminding me of for several days.

Now that the haulers have come and gone, though, it is so nice to have a cleaned up yard. We'll finally have a brief respite from all the hard work. More on our plans coming soon.