Another day older...

I was born one mornin' and the sun didn't shine
I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine
I loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal
and the straw boss said, "well bless my soul!"

Translated into yesterday:

I dragged my butt out of bed before the sun shined,
I picked up a shovel and started to whine.
I loaded fourteen tons, ended up on the floor,
and the girl boss said, "I loaded ten tons more!" :)

It was indeed an adventure. We arrived around 8:30 am to a rather large pile (which actually was 14 tons) of crushed granite. It was supposed to have been dropped in the driveway, but it covered the sidewalk and half the road. In all honesty, I didn't think the pile was all that big until we tackled it with shovels. I never knew rocks could have babies.

We had two wheel barrows and a passel of shovels. The neighbor kids wanted to help, which most of the time really didn't . We finally had it all in place by 4:00pm. We had to take numerous breaks due to the 105 degree heat. I put down four bottles of 32oz gatorade, along with several other drinks of water. You would expect a frequent "gotta go gotta go gotta go right now" sort of deal, but at the rate I was sweating, it wasn't ever an issue.

Several times during the day I used the garden hose to cool off my head, confirming that I am indeed a hosehead.

By the end of the day, I was feeling slightly nauseous and had a screaming headache which I understand is an indication of heat exhaustion/dehydration. I dont know how I could have drunk much more than I did.

The reason I was on the floor was that recently I have managed to tweak my back several times doing light stuff. I was probably 3/4 through with the day and it was complaining, so I went and laid on the floor to give it a break.

I went back out there and helped finish up after that. It was quite a job. The bear donned my spare pair of gloves and came out to 'help' us.

He had a little garden shovel with which he was putting 3 rocks in a little plastic wagon. At one point he got mixed up and started bringing rocks back and putting them on the pile.


DramaMama was wonderful and brought us cold rags to tie around our necks, sprayed us with cool water, etc.

I can almost move now, but pretty much everything I got hurts.