I used a tiller borrowed from our deacon yesterday to dig up a new area for our pool and another area to plant seven 3-gallon loropetalums I bought from Lowes for $2 each (regularly priced $19.99 each). When I was negotiating the price with the manager, the shrubs were crunchy and nearly dead. But over the past several weeks I have revived them almost entirely. I hope to plant them this weekend. I know it's not a good time since we're going into the hot-season, but I promise to keep them watered and not let them die. They're too pretty to lose.

Anyway this is something I wrote last July when I began tilling up another area for the pool my parents and siblings gave me for my birthday. Our backyard is not at all flat, so I have to do some serious digging and leveling to get this area flat. I can't believe I did it last year without a tiller. I amaze myself sometimes.

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Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of last week I spent about 25 hours leveling, digging, digging, leveling, re-digging, re-leveling, re-digging and constructing an above ground pool for the children. The days I worked would have been beautiful days to swim: not a cloud in the sky, no wind, and 100 degree days from 8 AM to 3 PM. Wednesday the wind decided to blow around noon. To an asthmatic, sweaty, sandy mom it came as an angel of mercy...inspiring me to work three more hours.

The children pranced and danced around my work area, occasionally adding entertainment to the grueling work, but most often causing confusion and messing up my stakes, strings and line-level. I exhorted myself to be patient and to use these times as "learning moments." It wasn't meant to be. Almost every time I would begin to discuss the way X, Y, and Z are supposed to work (and why they weren't working right now), I would look up to find the child walking toward, smiling or waving at me from the air-conditioned house.

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Yesterday morning when I was working, Max proudly emerged from the house with two cups of iced tea for us. I still think it's going to take a few days to get the ground completely level. Last year's attempt left us about four inches off, but we didn't find it out till we had about four feet of water in the pool, and at that point it wasn't worth dumping it and starting over. I don't want the same mistake to happen twice.

All the same, I just love to dig.

WhenExtremesMeet

Seriously, within 24 hours of each other:

The husband, watching the sleekly-designed, hands-free, battery powered can-opener, says, "What the heck is that?"

The 7 year-old, holding up the hand-powered, standard can-opener, says, "What the heck is this?"