We Will Succeed!

Wow...amazing progress is being made. And not without a boatload of extra effort.

Since the last post, we've finished installing all of the drainage...lay drain fabric at bottom and sides of trench, lay gravel base, add drain pipe, connect drain pipe to outlet, then fill trench with more gravel.

As it became clear that we'd be spreading gravel on Tuesday and perhaps sand on Wednesday, the necessity to dig the post holes before Tuesday morning pretty much told us what needed to be done Monday evening. Sounds simple enough...rent a 2-man power auger, stake out where the four 6 foot deep holes go, then let that auger do all the work before placing sonotubes in the resultant holes. Well, it might have been that simple if two of the poles didn't stake out on top of drain trenches. This meant a bunch of extra effort to dig the hole while safely keeping dirt out of the trench and gravel out of the hole. And of course, a 6 foot deep hole is WAY down there...especially when you keep running into rocks that keep stopping the bit and sending an explosive jerk up the shaft to the handles.

As darkness neared, Dave and George knew that they were up against more than they could deal with (much like they must have felt the last time they teamed up against Gregg and Kurt in grass doubles). A desperate plea for help brought proper responses from Janson, Sunia, and Kurt. With light from cars parked next to the work site, the fivesome finished the task a bit after midnight.

Someone owes those 5 guys (except Janson) a couple pitchers of beer for the evening's efforts. There's something satisfying about accepting a challenge, finding your team in a serious pickle, then pressing through to success with that "We will not fail!" attitude. I sincerely admire these guys and hope they tell the story of this fateful evening long into the future.

Left to right: Sunia, Janson, Kurt, and George try to show the machine who is boss. Based on the bermuda shorts and flip-flops, it appears that Kurt merely stepped in for the picture.
When the manufacturer named this machine a "Two-man power auger," it must not have considered how many Gig Harbor volleyball players it takes to match the strength of two normal men.


When the job called for serious heavy muscle, Sunia the Fijian Phenom met the challenge.