Hard work

A few days ago Sophie and I went to pick out some rock to put on the sides of the house. I had only been home for about a half hour when a huge dump truck left 6 tons of rock on our driveway...blocking it completely. Don't worry, I had parked the car on the street just in case. Sydney was elated when she got home from preschool to find more rocks than all her collections combined! She spent the rest of the day climbing up and and sliding down and hauling small amounts in her sand pail, thus neccesitating several baths that day.
As you can see from the picture, the left side of the house has the air conditioner and there is only a small space to squeeze by with the rock. Not only did the wheelbarrow not fit, but I was the only person small enough to squeeze by with a shovel full of rock. So, good thing I am super strong! I ended up hauling most of the rock from the pile on the driveway....all around back, around the curbing...and dumping it in a pile by the air condintioner. Then I had to shovel it one scoop at a time down the side. It sounds like a lot of work and it was! However, it actually went lots faster than I originally anticipated. I'm sure the neighbors are all fascinated with all the projects I am always undertaking.
I thought I deserved a little spotlight for all the hard work I did. I made Mark take a few pictures of me filling up the wheelbarrow so you can all observe my huge muscles!
Part of our incentive to hurry and clear out the rock pile was due to the fact that we couldn't park the cars in the garage or on the driveway. Just as a side note...our garage is the typical two car AZ garage that really only fits one car and all our stuff. So the Neon just gets parked on the street (of course we always put the CLUB on so it won't get stolen).
Ok...so I didn't do all of it by myself. Mark helped haul several tons of rock after work and actually he did most of the other side of the house. I just had to help rake it even. I'm sure he would have done more if he could have squeezed by the air conditioner but it was just easier for me. Oh well, it has definitely made us appreciate the fact that neither one of us will ever have to do this for a living. Believe me...it is HARD WORK. My muscles are pretty sore.

I am relieved that we were able to complete this project before it starts getting hot. Actually today it has already reached 80 degrees so we are well on our way to sweltering heat.