BenSpark Family Adventures

You know, after 20 hours driving a backhoe, when you get in your car, that has power steering, it feels like you are expending so much effort just to turn. Okay Sunday! Sunday we hit the ground running and began by yanking out a bunch of trees. We saved one to replant the others are chipper fodder. Yanking out the stumps was a project in itself. I think we ate up much of the morning just digging out stumps. But once we got the hang of it things ran smoothly. While I was pulling out the stumps and Dad was cutting down the trees with the chainsaw, Tara and Erik put up 5 sections of fence. They did a very good job of it too. We did have one of the neighbors come and complain at 9:00am about the chainsaw. Of course this was when we were done. My Dad says to her, “Oh, we’re all done…. (with that tree). It wasn’t until about an hour or so later that we had to cut another tree down. Today we started the concrete slabs on the opposite side of the property. We set them up that actual property l...

Photo-A-Day #65 06/12/05 Oops! I backed into one of the 5 foot slabs and knocked it over while I ran around the parking lot this morning. Luckily no cars were parked behind it. No time for a backyard clean-up recap post tonight. We worked until dark and just finished supper.

This morning we started bright and early getting to work with the backyard cleanup project. At first we were unable to start the backhoe but Erik got that figured out quickly. Dad started using the backhoe first. He began by digging out a spot for us to begin laying out the concrete slabs. After a little while I took over the controls of the backhoe and spent the better part of the day perfecting my skills with excavating. Everyone agreed that I may have found a second calling in life. A couple of trees had to come down and Erik and I took care of maintaining some tension on a rope while Dad took the chainsaw to the trees. We have a nice pile of branches ready for the chipper. After the trees were down the stumps had to come out. Stumps don’t want to come out, they like it where they are, that is why they are stumps. Anyway after nearly flipping the backhoe a couple of times we finally got the stumps out. Then we cleared a nice level path for the concrete slabs. Our next task was to ge...

Photo-A-Day #64 06/11/05 All day I got to play on that backhoe. You see, years of Nintendo as a child improved my hand eye coordination and my ability to think in 4 dimensions helped me discover a new skill. I rock with the backhoe. I was able to scoop and rip out roots, used the bucket to grab loam and dump it between the retaining wall and the pit. And we used the backhoe to move all the 5 foot concrete slabs. I did a couple with the scoop when we first started out then I did the rest with the bucket on the front.

Today when I got home from work my dad headed off to pick up the backhoe for the backyard. Yesterday we both took the day off and today we began to get into the preparation for tomorrows all day fence installation. We have 15 6X8 Spruce Stockade fence panels and 16 posts. Why will this take all day and possibly into Sunday? Well this fence is going to be special. First we are digging a 6 inch trench then we are layering in some stone dust. After that we will put in 18 inch high concrete slabs. These will be placed end to end across the entire 120 foot span of fence. We have a backhoe to dig the trench and move the slabs. I didn’t get pictures of that today because I was busy helping to move the slabs but I promise to get someone to take the videos tomorrow.  The slabs were moved by wrapping a chain around the slab lengthwise and hooking it under a piece of rebar that was on one side, the other side has a hole, we stuck a lag bolt in the other side for the chain to catch. Then this ...

Photo-A-Day #63 06/10/05 Close up of the Rhododendron Bush that is behind the house.

Yep, yesterday Allison and I celebrated 4 years together as a couple. And before I go into my usual restaurant review and movie tangent, let me say that they have been a great 4 years. I couldn’t ask for a kinder person to spend time with or ask to be my wife. Now onto my usual posts/tangents. We went to a new Chinese restaurant in Cumberland called the Fortune House. It is right off exit 10 of 295. You get off the exit and go straight across the intersection into a small strip mall and there it is. The food was fantastic. Some of the best crab Rangoon around. Allison joked that she’s going to send me there for take-out from now on. Nope, that is a strictly go and sit down for a meal kind of place. The food is so fresh and appetizing. The decor is very clean and inviting and the staff is warm and friendly. We split a Pu Pu for One and then had the Happy Family meal with the House Fried Rice. The only thing I wasn’t thrilled with was the fried rice. I like my fried rice more of a Chicag...