Delivery and more digging

Friday morning at 7 am we got our delivery.

Baasha was excited about it.



Look how foggy it was!



My man is grinning as the truck arrived and he chatted with the driver.


I love this smile!


I tried to help them unload but it was really a two person job so I was getting in the way.


At first we were worried that the pieces would not fit in our driveway, but as we saw them, we realized they were all smaller than we thought - uh oh, that means even more assembly.

As they did the inventory check and the money check, I looked over the instructions. Uh oh, all in German. Big long words I've never seen.

Then the guy went over every page of the instructions with my man, and I stood by wondering what the heck he was saying. I like how each piece has its name written on it, to help you know where it goes (ok that I could understand). Also, I like how OUR name was written on the top piece!



This seems familiar. Oh yes, the last thing I assembled in my driveway was a BBQ. That was hard. This should be much harder. (The top piece of wood is a protective sheet, the actual stall walls are a lovely stained shiny dark brown. Something I will be polishing to keep shiny, I'm sure.) The delivery guy lay everything down in backwards order so that what we need to assemble first is on top. That is why the roof (last) is on bottom. I am grateful for this detail.

But the hardest part is what we are doing right now. Getting the spot ready. And with horrible timing, my man became ill Friday and had to go to the doctor. Now he's on antibiotics, drinking tea, and wrapped up in blankets as he plays on his laptop. (He found a great site today about creative uses for blenders, oh my, click the link, I think you'll laugh. I want one of those (blenders)!!

Today Eva came over (God bless her, all the way from Wuppertal) to help us transplant the giant Rhodie. But I was already discouraged as she arrived; I'd been digging around it all morning and was exhausted and dubious about whether or not it's possible to move.

She brought her own tools and got right to work digging. After a few hours, and even with my poor sick man's help, we realized there's no way. It's just too big. Then she had the idea of just putting the stall right in front of it - we'll only lose half a meter because we wanted a walkway behind the stall anyway. OK then, let's try to just save this Rhodie! She drove to the hardware store and bought us 2 large bags of what they call "Rhodie dirt" (!!?). I think this is to apologize for all our intrusions.

Then I made soup (mud) and talked to it, encouraging it not to hold a grudge.

Now I'm back to digging and digging, trying to level an unlevel area. But I can see an improvement finally.

My man has decided that we should make it pretty and put in retaining walls made from garden stones (those concrete blocks you plant flowers in). He wants to be sure the ground stays level. I resisted but finally relented. I just want this thing done but he's right, we should do it properly.

Oh, but the hardware store closed at 1, and they're not open on Sundays (cuz nothing is) so we have to wait.

I was wrong - this is the hardest part, the waiting for stores to be open again.