Loads of Dirt and Hard Work

When I got home from the shop yesterday, DH was dragging. He was exhausted from working on the woodshed and drainage all day. He started his day by going to Fra-Dor, one of the area's major suppliers for construction grade landscaping materials in the Twin Cities. He's been there often over the past few years and has an account with them. He arrange to have a 1/2 ton of black fill dirt delivered to the house on Thursday morning, and took a half-yard home with him in the pickup for the day's work. So his day started by hauling dirt - a lot of it - all around the yard, from top to bottom.

We've got a black dirt delivery scheduled for Thursday morning. It's
not large enough to justify the large truck like this, it'll use the
smaller dump truck. But it's still just dumped onto our front lawn
and from that point, it's up to DH to move it wheelbarrow
load by wheelbarrow load. 

After he got the dirt where he wanted it and pounded and packed it down, he finished grading the woodshed and installed landscaping cloth and edging around it, filling it in with river rock. We had a pile of river rock next to the house for a couple of years. It was dirty and filled with muck and junk, so he had to wash and screen the rock before hauling it over to the shed and putting it down. It was backbreaking, exhausting work and he was hurting BIG TIME by the end of the day. But the shed is looking really good with the grading, the landscaping ground cloth barrier and then the edging and the rocks. It's pretty darned awesome. I'll post photos tomorrow, if I can get some good ones today.

The size truck delivering our dirt is closer to this size. Still a
good sized truck, but not as long as the one above. This is
just about the maximum length that can actually get into and
out of our driveway. 

Today's tasks are several besides the usual laundry and general housecleaning. Highest on my list is cleaning the printer rollers of my main inkjet printer. I'm getting too many times when the paper stack is low and multiple pages are pushed through at a time. That's because the rollers aren't gripping correctly, so I'll have to get them cleaned off. It's not a horrible task, but will require putting the printer onto its' side, pulling the paper cartridge trays out, and working on the interior of the printer - something I don't usually do. But, I've disassembled and reassembled computers before - this has to be easier. I need my printer fully operational - it's my workhorse.

When we need larger quantities of landscaping supplies, we head
over to Fra-Dor. They supply both individuals and commercial
companies with a full range of landscaping supplies. Over the
years that DH has been working on the back yard project,
we've purchased many tons of dirt and Class 5 gravel from them. 

DH and I have both been working hard on furnishing our houses on Lord of the Rings Online. I'll try and take some screen shots to share today. I'm very pleased with my cave - it came together beautifully. I'm less pleased with the house that goes with the cave, but it'll get there. My mountain house, on the other hand, is jelling nicely. I'm VERY pleased with it. I have several walls waiting for specific items (maps or pictures) so I'm tempted to shelve the house decorating in a day or two and push onward with questing. The items I need come along as available options when I'm farther along in the game. Although I've played the game on and off for thirteen years, I'm definitely a turtle - preferring to slowly explore and enjoy each area of Middle Earth before moving on to the next.

On that note, I have laundry calling my name. It's Wednesday, and I hope your day is glorious. Only good things for all of my readers today, and I certainly plan on being back tomorrow. Have a great day, stay safe, be well and please, wear a mask!