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A Little Warm Inside

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The sudden onset of Spring has caught me with my window screens still stashed away in the basement. It’s surprising how quickly the house heats up when everything stays enclosed. I keep meaning to get to the task of scrubbing all the screens and washing all the windows (on both sides) and putting everything up, repairing the occasional tear and replacing a few of the broken spring-posts that hold the things in place.

I’m really going to get around to it.

If nothing else, that suffocating feeling will move me to action. Though you know what they always say about the frog that will happily wait in a pot of water that’s slowly increasing to a boil. Yes, they say it’s not true at all. Frogs don’t sit still for very long, and neither do I. When I move I’m always moving away from washing the windows and fixing the screens.

Meanwhile, I learned that the Earth’s core is hotter than we thought.

Lots.

I'm Under Your Feet!
I’m Under Your Feet!

In fact, the center of the Earth is nearly as hot as the surface of the sun, and it’s the flowing currents of liquified metals that gives our planet its magnetic field. This is a bit of information that has made me somewhat less enthusiastic about digging a hole to China, or even halfway. What Henry Ford said about chopping your own wood is also true of shoveling your way to Shanghai – it warms you twice and the second blast is a doozy. The notion of a Blazing Sun in the Center of the Earth does shift my image of the rock we inhabit. The good old Earth is a more unruly place than I thought and more a piece of the Universe than I had imagined.

Aren’t we fortunate the ember has cooled just enough for us to survive on its surface? The outer core, where all the heat is, lies about 1,800 miles straight down. That’s the same as the distance as the drive from St. Paul to Miami, which is a more traditional way to get a little warmer. Here’s another way to think of it: Minneapolis has 1,800 miles of sidewalks. If you laid them all end to end and dug a hole to bury them upright, you’d be insane AND remarkably strong. And you’d deserve what you’d get – a high-pressure molten geyser right up the snoot.

When have you used a shovel to do something worthwhile?

52 thoughts on “A Little Warm Inside”

  1. I imagine that this may sound morbid, but I’m proud to have created a pet cemetery out by the garage. There are several fur persons, an albino squirrel, two hamsters, and assorted birds buried there (some of which belonged to grandchildren). There are gravestones with names and dates as well. Several winters ago I lost an orange tabby named Luke who, because the ground was frozen, had to be left at the vet’s after euthanizing. I determined to solve the problem of winter-deaths by digging a deep hole during warm weather, then placing a board over it. A few bags of top soil sit nearby, ready for the next cold-weather burial. You could say that the next inhabitant of the little pet cemetery will find me shovel-ready.

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    1. youve made me smile remembering our cat who died and had to wait for spring by putting the cat in a bag in the freezer. a couple of people questioned what it was before we got it in the ground and looked suspiciously at our soup before eating it.

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  2. Good morning. When I was still living at home I was given the job of using a shovel to dig the foundation for the house that my Dad built for our family. My brother helped with this. I also dug a hole for the septic tank by hand with a shovel. My Dad could have hired someone who had excavating equipment to do the digging that my brother and I did with shovels. I guess he though having us do it would save money and also give my brother and I something to do. I didn’t mind being asked to do that work and was proud of the big hole I dug for the septic tank.

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    1. With just a shovel, you dug a hole big enough to hold a septic tank? That would take me nearly a lifetime to do. But then, I’m not good at channeling my inner gopher.

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      1. My grandfather was good at doing things for himself by hand. I think my Dad learned that he could do things for himself by hand from my Grandfather. It seems to me that my Dad might have been passing on what he learned from his father by asking me to use a shovel to do something that usually is done with power equipment. It really isn’t too hard to dig a hole for septic tank by hand if you don’t mind doing that kind of work.

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        1. Jim, did you have many rocks to dig through?
          My Dad dug a new line for our septic tank and I remember thinking, why don’t you hire a backhoe?? He said it wasn’t that hard to do.

          We have a lot of limestone on our farm. Some of it is on the surface and some is maybe 18″ down. I’ve dug a lot of post holes and 90% of them need a breaker bar and a lot of muscle to get through the rock layer.
          When Dad put the water line in to the barn back in the ’40’s or ’50’s he could still buy dynamite at the lumber yard and he says he blasted the trench for that. I found the tin of blasting caps out in the shed and disposed of them sometime in the late ’90s.
          It’s crazy and fun to imagine buying dynamite at the local store. Think of the ‘Darwin Award’ possibilities!??

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        3. I think the septic tank was in a location without too many rocks. There was some work that had to be done with a pick axe to get the rocks removed from the area where we dug the foundation. I have no experience with dynamite. I have visited with farmers who told me they used it to clear out tree stumps.

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        4. there is a product that is all the rage with hunters and trget practice enthusiasts where you hit the target which is usually put in a tree stump or somewhere strategic and it blows up everythig around. might work for limestone if you found a crevice or crack to tuck in into and stot down into the hole

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    1. I just finished reading posts from yesterday. Renee, hug your daughter and your husband. Pet the dog. So sorry for the difficult case.

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      1. Thanks. I am going to resort to the time-tested case management strategy of organizing a treatment team. I have that luxury where I work, and it can be really effective.

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  4. As a kid I remember trying to dig to China with my brother and neighbor kids – we got a few feet deep (deep enough that I worried a bit about getting back out of the hole – keeping in mind I was probably 6 or 7 at the time). We also dug a hole to create a bit of a fort under the back porch – it was enclosed and full of spiders. Looking back I am amazed with my mother’s tolerance for holes around her house – at least the one under the porch was hidden, I guess. Recent excavations have been appreciably smaller: post holes for Daughter’s swing set (built with the help of a very tolerant friend when she was about 3), hole for the roots of a forsythia bush that I really hope didn’t die over the winter, tiny grave for the deceased baby bunny Daughter found the summer a mama and her babies took up residence under the slide on our swingset (buried near the squirrel found the prior summer)…

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  5. Morning all. I’ve done the traditional gardening, stump digging with a shovel. However, I have also used a shovel as an instrument of mercy. Several winters back, a none-too-bright rabbit couldn’t find its way out of the yard and the dogs got it. Unfortunately, by the time I got them off, they had wounded it severely – it was not going to survive those injuries. I put it out of its misery w/ the shovel. Sorry about this post if you’re squeamish….

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  6. OT Liam update. I hope nobody minds these reports about my three-year-old grandson. You have shown much tolerance for my stories so far. And we have just had a fascinating chapter in the unfolding drama of Liam’s development. Some baboons might recall that his daycare teacher sent a frightening note to his mom, Molly, saying that Liam was a bad influence in school. She feared that Liam might be autistic or suffer from ADHD. Molly went into a tailspin of doubt and fear, but then recovered because she just couldn’t believe what the teacher was saying.

    Molly has taken Liam to two professionals now, and both have said the same thing. Is Liam being disruptive in school? Gee, how does that rate a headline? He’s a three-year-old! Beyond that, he is very bright and creative, and he often tries to control his environment. When Molly reflected, she noted that in his play around home, Liam often takes the role of teacher and then organizes lessons for his toys and pets. He has taken on the role of the most powerful person in his environment.

    And control is the issue with Liam’s teacher. She was reading a story to the kids the other day when Liam announced that it was a boring story, so why didn’t the kids do some art projects instead? All the kids abandoned the teacher and began doing art. Liam has a natural ability to lead. The teacher keeps losing control of the class to Liam.

    This doesn’t mean that Liam doesn’t have “issues” to work on. The pediatric psychologist told Molly, “Life is full of boring meetings and flat experiences where a bright person gets antsy. Liam has to learn to blend in even when he isn’t intellectually engaged. What he is doing all the time is using his intelligence and creativity to control his environment. He needs a school that is structured but which also appeals to his mind.”

    That’s the big project now:finding a better school. Meanwhile Molly is trying to act more like the leader of the pack at home rather than letting Liam use his charm and smarts to hijack all plans and make them suit him.

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    1. Tell her to stop trying to make h into the peg that fits into the hole he knows which hole he goes in. A new teacher is a must and it is life’s single greatest lesson. get out of situations that impose stupid rules and regulations for their own sake and the glory of the headmaster and find a place where you can flourish being you
      I saw an hbo show on how we owe elephants an apology for the way we have abused them for our own ends and it made me feel differently about dog training and applies to kid training as well. You can do it. It is effective. But the reason for performance is fear based and that is wrong.
      When the story is boring lets do art is a mantra we dhould all live by.
      Liam for president 2020 or 2040 .
      or maybe Obama would tell him to look for something less restrictive and that requires less use of a shovel to get through the stuff you are wading in all day long

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    2. Many people are surprised at the amount of effort needed to raise kids if they have never done it. I don’t know why this is true. I guess most of us want to pretend that many of the more difficult aspects of raising kids more or less don’t exist. I think many kids have “issues” and their “issues” are ignored in one way or another. I’m in favor of giving kids as much freedom as is possible, but that is just my opinion and I don’t know if it is really to the best way.

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      1. who does know if their way is the best way? should i do it someone elses way because they say they are sure? i think thats the tendancy. hes an expert. wed better listen to him. not so fast. hes an expert according to who. heck im an expert to some. i know people i dont respect at all that are experts i would tell my kids to run away from. its a tough realization that were all we have.

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    4. Mom as leader of the pack is a very good thing. We don’t want people thinking that Liam is a pill as he gets older.

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      2. I totally agree with you, Renee. My post was not meant to suggest that Liam’s teacher was stupid. It was stupid to suggest he is autistic or suffering from ADHD–two diagnoses that I feel are widely abused–but she was right to call attention to the fact he is trying to control his environment instead of cooperating. This is one powerful kid.

        Knowing how sensitive these issues are, Molly took great care to identify the most respected and reasonable professionals in the area.

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        2. I happen to love three year olds and wish I could meet Liam. I think his mom is wise to take this issue in hand now, as what is really adorable at 3 is much less so at 13. I was interested in the language issues you mentioned earlier (Liam having so many thoughts and ideas that he was almost tongue tied). I have seen kids in his situation develop temporary stutters until their motor systems and their speech systems get integrated.

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  7. Morning–
    I’ve buried a few pets… dug a lot of post holes (with the manual, two handle post hole digger) but I use the shovel handle to tamp the dirt around the post.
    Other than that I don’t recall digging any deep holes; I’m adverse to manual labor that way.
    I’ve done landscaping with the edger blocks but that doesn’t take much digging; just a shallow trench.

    OT: I enjoy reading these two blogs about the rock Star touring life. It’s an interesting perspective on being a touring musician. And clearly there’s a reason those concert tickets are $150 each so they can afford the private jets, cars and caterer… ‘bar bands’ these are not. And the crew isn’t on the private jet… it would be interesting to read one from their point of view. Oh, wait, they’re WORKING! They don’t have time to write a blog.
    This particular tour is Mark Knopfler’s European leg of the tour.

    http://richard-bennett.com
    and
    http://guyfletcher.co.uk/index.php/diary/2013_MK_European_Tour

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  8. I’ve planted and transplanted lots and lots of trees. I used to enjoy tree planting more than I do now – it can be hard on the back. Today I’m going to use the shovel to dig up three hydrangeas that I planted in the wrong place last year. Those three shouldn’t be too hard… should they?

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  9. There’s a charming story involving a shovel I’d like to share. When my youngest, Steve, was only 10 years old, he was bored and asked if he could dig a hole in the backyard one summer day. At the end of that day, he ran to us exclaiming that he’d dug the “best hole in the state”. We were aghast at the 10-foot deep, 13-foot wide hole this boy had dug! My wasband sensed a glorious opportunity to engage his imagination, saying, “Gee, Steve – I wonder what you could do with this hole?”, and began bringing the boy tools, plywood, 2 x 4s and other assorted construction materials. Day after day, hour after hour, Steve worked from dawn to dusk.

    It took him half of the summer, but the end product was a 3-story A frame, shingled roof, wiring, windows with shutters, a built-in Murphy bed, a deck, and a 15′ long hidden underground tunnel
    to access the structure! He didn’t want girls in it, so this secret entrance was built. I was so impressed with his creation that I called the local Sun Sailor newspaper. Shortly after, “Steve’s Place” was featured on the front page, along with several pictures and a detailed article which ended with him saying, “For a fee, I’ll consult with other kids and parents about how to build a fort”.

    It’s now 30 years later and my son has a very successful design-build whole house renovation
    business near Edina. He did detour and earn a college degree, but the skill set for his career evolved from that really big hole in the ground at age 10. For his 40th birthday, I had the whole article laminated, framed, and titled “THE HOLE”. It now hangs proudly in his office where every new customer has the fun of seeing just where his career began.

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    1. i think he could specialize in buildings with secret entrances that keep girls out. its a wonderful niche market with sone very devout followers.

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      1. You probably wouldn’t know this, but his last name is “Kuhl” – pronounced “cool”. His many work vans display “We’re so Kuhl” and the satellites on work sites say “Kuhl Stool”.
        This kid not only parlayed his passion for design into a career, he’s also used his last name as part of his brand! I want to add that his grandfather, George Grooms, taught him most of his craftsman skills.

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        1. You didn’t mention, Cb, that your son went on to build a home for his brother that had two secret passageways right in the house. One was a suit of armor that you could spin to reveal a secret stairway to the second story of the house. The other was a panel that hid a secret slide (a wonderful, spinning slide) that a person could use to whoosh down into the basement gym!)

          Steve is now building his own home, and I think it will feature at least one secret doorway.

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      1. That’s a sad piece of history, PJ. He had a barbecue on the third-story deck off the fort and the whole thing burned down. Fortunately, with the help of some neighbors, we were able to put out the fire without calling the fire department, though.

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      1. Really. I wonder what his life would be like if his parents had yelled at him for making such a large hole and made him fill it back in….

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        1. Great point, Edith! Steve’s precociousness was consistently channeled through wasband’s ADD and delight in dreaming up new projects for him. It was he who generated and reinforced my son’s creativity. For that I am grateful.

          In response to your comment about the new home Steve’s building; yes, as a matter of fact there’s a secret entrance out of his two-year old boy’s bedroom closet which leads to a swing bridge out to a huge old oak tree.

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  10. The previous owners of our home decided to fill in all the space around trees and bushes with small to medium size rocks to keep weeds down, and we have spent years taking the rocks out with shovels. Husband dug a new bean bed on Sunday, and we have buried at least one cat in the yard several years ago. Every year we tell ourselves that we really don’t need to dig up anything or plant any more shrubs or perennials, but it never seems to work out that way. The poblano peppers are starting to germinate, by the way.

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    1. the rental centers around here have a rock vac that i think was designed for taking rocks off commercial roofs but works in landscape derocking applications i am told. i hate those riverrock landscape additions. cant shiovel em, almost have to pick em up by hand. i inherited 3 or 4 spots in current house where i armwrestle with them on occasion. they do keep weeds out because there is generally black platic sheeting beneath whickh chokes out the soil in a weird way.. i think i remember a statistic that 94 % of the food from gardens in russia came form the 4% allowed to be grown by individuals for themselves vs the large community farming done on many many acres. you care about your peppers, nobody cares about the goverment peppers

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      1. That would have been really handy! Those shovels of rocks were pretty heavy. They didn’t keep the weeds down, either, since dirt got inbetween the rocks and the landscape fabric and weeds sprouted.

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  11. my shovel work comes in spurts for a week or two at a time on projects, i put in a pool for my day when i was in high school. good project thsat taught me some stuff. i worked construction for long enough to know i didnt want to do that. today i plant transplant hosta and other perrenials for a week or two int he spring every year and dig out the evil stuff in the woods encroaching on my yard. i have relinquished the spots that will allow it to go back to wildflowers and shade plants to avoid preening of turf. i love a wild feel but i do need to throw starter stuff in to get it all going. shovel required.

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  12. It’s a little disturbing to think of all that heat under us, Dale – wonder why there aren’t more volcanoes spouting…

    My favorite thing to do with a shovel is help Husband plant potatoes. He’s worked the ground so it’s soft soil, the seed potatoes are cut up with at least one eye in each piece. He inserts shovel and pulls back on it to make a space the right depth, I toss in the potato, and he removes shovel and lets the ground cover it up. It sounds so simple, but is a process I just love to watch. The second favorite thing is to DIG the potatoes…

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