Yup, last Saturday my friends and I spread out most of that red lava rock along the side of the house - raising heaps of iron oxide-coloured dust. My job was to shovel the stuff into the wheel barrow, haul it over to the site and dump it. Repeat. I realised that I don't want to get a job hauling volcanic rock around. Anyways, as the day wore on - and it was hot and sunny -
all this red dust started kinda reminding me of Australia (and I kept hearing Midnight Oil in my head over and over: "...River runs red, Black rain falls...") and I half expected road trains and koalas to start appearing across the desiccated front lawn (the grass seed didn't really take root in the clay they have here, which is why we had to start putting down top soil, which got washed away by all the rain earlier this month - look for the earlier posts, which explain that in greater detail...). Maybe it was the heat and manual labour, but things got a little loopy (dehydration isn't pretty), and by the end of the day we were coated in fine, bright oxidized dust - sore, and just plain tired of yard improvement. However, this next weekend we'll be back out there, ready to do battle with nature and entropy.
Yup, last Saturday my friends and I spread out most of that red lava rock along the side of the house - raising heaps of iron oxide-coloured dust. My job was to shovel the stuff into the wheel barrow, haul it over to the site and dump it. Repeat. I realised that I don't want to get a job hauling volcanic rock around. Anyways, as the day wore on - and it was hot and sunny - 
all this red dust started kinda reminding me of Australia (and I kept hearing Midnight Oil in my head over and over: "...River runs red, Black rain falls...") and I half expected road trains and koalas to start appearing across the desiccated front lawn (the grass seed didn't really take root in the clay they have here, which is why we had to start putting down top soil, which got washed away by all the rain earlier this month - look for the earlier posts, which explain that in greater detail...). Maybe it was the heat and manual labour, but things got a little loopy (dehydration isn't pretty), and by the end of the day we were coated in fine, bright oxidized dust - sore, and just plain tired of yard improvement. However, this next weekend we'll be back out there, ready to do battle with nature and entropy.
3 comments:
I'm sure you'll tell me I'm well wide of the mark, but there is something about this that strikes me as worthy for want of a better word. Remember when I wrote about shovelling snow and the sense of satisfaction it gave me? Didn't you experience that same feeling in the midst of the heat and the dust?
Oh, don't get me wrong - there was (and is) a great deal of satisfaction in seeing the results of our lobours. Its just that it is taking on somewhat of an epic quality to it all - we are out there each weekend, doing a lot of heavy-lifting and back-breaking effort for dubious gain (if it isn't the rain, then its too much sun or wind). Its like we are farmers, constantly battling the elements - except, in this case, we are only trying to grow a lawn and lay down some rocks...
Indeed - if we just let the field grass come on in, things would probably be easier, but, human nature being what it is, my friends would prefer Kentucky Blue Grass, so that is what we're attempting to put down. Actually, the only thing that is inhibiting success right now is the weather; one moment it is dry as a bone, the next we are up to neck in torrential rain.
I must admit, though, that all this activity is getting me into pretty good shape, and I'm working on one heck of a farmer's tan...
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