Tax Day: Digging Down, or Digging Out?

Even though it's Sunday, let's go ahead and talk about this as being "Tax Day." Never mind that, officially, taxes don't have to be mailed until Tuesday (thank you, District of Columbia, for Emancipation Day!). And let me also go ahead and crow about the fact that, remarkably, I managed to do my taxes yesterday, a whole day early. That includes federal, North Carolina, and Virginia taxes.

How, then, did I spend this Sunday? I made more sticky buns, which I'll blog about sometime in the coming week while I'm on the road. It also registered with me that it was on this date one year ago that I cut the grass for the first time of the 2011 season. I'd like to note, though, that with the early arrival of spring in 2012, I've already cut the grass three times (and it could stand a fourth right now).

The key thing about this Sunday was made possible because of that first important step of having a load of topsoil delivered. It means I felt inspired, at last, to get out in the yard and start digging some holes.

I'm starting off easy, where I'm unlikely to make a mess of things yet. There's a narrow strip of property between the retaining wall of the driveway entrance and the south property line (and fence), which is lined with some reasonably young maple trees. (If you're looking at the house from the front, this is to your far left.) It is well-shaded with sparse grass and a bit of moss growing. Seems to me it's perfect for a whole crowd of azalea bushes. And maybe a couple of rhododendron?

All that's to say I spent my Sunday afternoon digging holes. Well, only three of them, because in the hard-packed red clay of the northwestern Piedmont of North Carolina, it was back-breaking work for an out-of-shape old man like me who seldom exerts himself. Since I'm putting these holes amongst trees, I also got to tangle with a lot of roots. None too large, though...just big enough to require me to strain and struggle but to emerge victorious.

This effort also clicks into place another project that has been on hold, waiting for me to start digging up the yard. I would like to place a firewood rack outside the back door off the kitchen eating nook/bay, but the way the yard is graded, it is not level. And it slopes pretty steeply because of how the drainage needs to run. It needed to be built up. Now I've got a start on that, too. Then I can lay some paving stones, assemble the firewood rack, and (in advance of next winter) buy a good load of firewood.