You notice nature so much more living in the country.  Not just the birds, bees and flora but geography and geology.  Most of all you notice the weather and it’s impacts on the environment.  Not just that the lawn can get waterlogged, the trees perk up and the chickens flee to their hen house for cover but the fact that the weather, more specifically rainfall, has powerful land changing impacts.

The rain has gradually washed away topsoil from the sloping land created when we built the house.  Also, it’s created channels to flow down that have increased in depth and width to the point that it’s like a small stream when we get a heavy downpour.  Whilst that in itself is not a problem, it is catastrophic for the chickens as ultimately all that water heads down the hill and into their pen.

We talked about fixing this before winter and now the work is under way.

We’ve contemplated whether this is work we could do ourselves.  Creating a retaining wall seems simple when you read about it but it requires deep holes to be dug and cement to be mixed.  Levels to be worked out and nails to be struck. Look see, this wall goes up hills and around corners.  It’s not a straightforward job.

Now I’m the daughter of a DIY supremo.  You’d think I’d have all the genes that make such projects challenging yet possible.  But I decided that digging deep holes in thick clay was not an adventure I wanted to pursue.  But I do have the skills and knowledge to know someone who does this sort of thing all the time.

This does of course require me to dial up my executive activities but I think that it’s worth it to get the job done properly.  After all the ravages of nature are forceful and I’d hate for the chickens to be buried under a mud slide rather than a tidal wave.

The work got underway last week.  First thing was to dig the holes.

Now if I’d known about this sort of tool I might have given it a go myself.  The ultimate in hole digging implements.  Don’t you love the razzle dazzle paint to mark the spot.

After a couple of hours, hey presto you have a perfect row of holes about 3 feet deep in the clay.

A work of art, don’t you think?  That drill bit just sliced through the clay to create a perfect hole.

Perfect of course until this happens.

Yes, in the downpours of last week our perfectly formed holes were filled with water making the construction efforts both wet and muddy.  The builders had to empty the holes first to install the posts and then the rain unkindly filled them up again.

Even if I had been able to dig the holes I would have given up this project the moment the rain filled the holes the first time let along twice.  That’s the difference when you are paying someone to do projects like this.  A little bit of rain can’t hold progress up.

No the lads had to keep going, regardless of the wet, mud and sheer frustration that they must have been feeling to be decanting buckets of water to drain the holes.  But these boys are dedicated to the end and I watched with amazement and then amusement to see them syphoning out the water using a hose pipe that of course they had to suck first to get the water flowing.  Yuk!

But they did eventually complete the posts just in time for the cement to arrive.

Now this job wasn’t just a bag of cement, it came on a cement truck ready mixed and despite their careful calculations and adding and extra amount they still didn’t have quite enough.  Bummer, I would have given up then and thrown away my shovel.  But no.  These boys simply mixed up some more by hand.

Not literally by hand.  They did use a shovel.  I know they’ve been quite hands on so far but even they drew the line at using their hands to mix things up!

Progress is increasing as the posts settle in the holes.  Now they are working towards installing the heavy weight tongue and groove timber that will create the wall.  But first they need to dig a drainage channel in which the drainage pipe will sit.  This couldn’t be done by digger.  It’s 32m long this wall, that’s 32m of digging a channel by hand in clay.  Even if I’d survived to get this far I’d have definitely thrown in the towel now.

But our landscapers never give up.  Determined to deliver a quality product every time.

They have now been working on this project for 6 days and I would say there is at least another 1 or 2 days work left.   They’ve been very tidy in their work.  It’s always a pleasure to have them around.

Which is more than I can say for the bassets who have been trailing muddy paws over my clean floors every day.  They wander round with a perpetual brown spot on the ends of their noses where they’ve been snouting around in the mud.

I shall be pleased when the wall is finished.  The top soil installed.  The beds planted and a basset fence put up to prevent their wanderings over what will be a perfect playpen for them.

As for me.  I look out from Domestic Executive HQ and feel content in the knowledge that a few more days bound to my desk is worth it to be able to pay for the professionals to do this job.  The daughter of a DIY supremo I may be.  But I’m smart, I know my limitations and know that however much it costs this is definitely a job for the boys!