Crikey, this is hard work.
We have been taking it in turns: one stood on the bank hammering, the other standing in the river holding the post straight.
Much as I hate to admit it, the fairer sex are not, as a rule, optimally configured for wielding a sledgehammer.
It’s a heavy old thing for a start.
And the half round poles that Mike has chosen to use don’t offer a particularly large target to hit. As he grips the wood, his hands, and even worse his head, are perilously close.
The job is made tougher by the nature of the terrain. You can see from the photo just how stony the riverbed is. Frequently we have to stop and extricate yet another chunk of Devon rock from 18 inches down.
.
Three posts are successfully driven home, but the tiredness is taking its toll.
When I bring down the hammer for the next pole it skids off the top and I can’t control its fall. It’s my ankle that stops it.
Mike is unimpressed. It reduces the pain not at all to be informed that it must surely have been only A Glancing Blow.
That’s all right then. I need be distracted no longer from the business of pile driving.
.
But I will have the last laugh. The summer season is upon us. The season of sandals. Not to mention shorts and ankle skimming trousers.
And the bruising is colouring up nicely.
Won’t questions be asked?
Hope the bruising goes down soon. Bruising shows that one has been injured, and therefore must be made a fuss of!
You have a lovely stream, and must feel very privileged to be living where you are. Whenever I am on or near our river, I also feel blessed and privileged, and try to remind myself of this when the river is at full pelt and taking chunks of our land away with her!
Your river is truly majestic Vera! But yes, there is always a price to pay is there not.
Sandals yeah! BUT without striped socks!
Yellow and purple – very tasteful!
Oh Lordy Jess, you don’t want to be using a sledge hammer to put posts in! Tell Mike you need a drivall, or post driver. Unless you want to get your own back and hit him with the hammer first 🙂
As it turned out, it would have been easier with a post driver. When we started though, the plan was to butt up the posts side by side, so didn’t think the driver would work. When it proved too difficult to get them in straight we changed to Plan B, the posts and wire mesh.
It was me that hit me with the hammer, I will clarify the wording!
I twisted my foot a few weeks ago and it came up in a VERY unsightly bruise just in the non-sandal area. However….no one has noticed, despite it now being in the blue/green phase. I do hope it feels better soon and perhaps leave it for a couple of days!
Ouch for you too!
Oh, I agree with Countryside Tales … can’t you get a ‘post driver’ … it will make it so much easier. I hope it’s not too painful. I fell down the stairs (again) last week and have a whopping bruise on my backside!
Double ouch!
So, tell me again – what are the posts for – do they just need bails on top for a game of riverside cricket! Sorry to hear about low-flying sledgehammers – ouch indeed.
Brilliant idea!!
Most of the players would need wellies..
Cricketers often need Wellies! What’s the problem? Sorry to hear of your injury. You must be very restrained – if it had’ve been me, the whole valley would have been left in no doubt how life-threatening the injury was!
Luckily the cows on the other side are especially mooey at the moment (there’s a bull in the field) and they drown me out..
I’m glad it’s not just me who ends up doing things like that… I can often be heard wailing ‘but I’m a girl!’ when asked to help with various things but am always ignored! Julie x
Womens’ lib has a lot to answer for Julie.
Ouch and ouch again! I had to smile at Elaine’s comment as when i first saw your photo I thought of cricket too:)
It would make the game more interesting at least!!
Oh poor you, and yes I’m always the one covered in multi coloured bruises, just as one starts to fade I do something else. It’s always jeans when I’m out and about I wouldn’t risk shorts…… too many questions would be asked 🙁
You do need to give yourself a bigger target to hit with a sledgehammer, at the very least one of these –
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Silverline-749248-Post-Driver/dp/B000LFVUBW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375280730&sr=8-1&keywords=post+knocker
And after living the way we have for the last four years Lovely Hubby now knows better than to ask me to hit anything that he has to hold 🙂
It was while looking for a pair of long trousers to go out that I made the horrific discovery that only one pair now fit… Too much teatime ice cream I think.
If we do anything like this again a post driver will be a must. Thanks for the link. Not as expensive as I thought.
OUCH!!!! I feel your pain…I’ve done the same. I’m amazed you didn’t wallop Mike one….pain causes me to lash out, especially at unsympathetic men, it’s different when they get hurt though isn’t it, reduced to five year olds in seconds…lol xxxx
It was all very light-hearted. Had it not been, he would have been walloped!
Jessica, ’tis a perilous life you lead!!! x
It’s never meant to be.. it just ends up that way!
Oh dear i feel your pain, we put about 40 post in using the same method then borrowed a post driver for the pig enclosure ….so much quicker and easier and less damaging to the pole tops too…Hope the bruising clears up quickly (use some arnica if you have it )
Oh my goodness, I don’t think I’d have the stamina for 40!
The post tops do look a bit of a state don’t they.. the plan is to chainsaw them off at bank level, which should tidy it all up.
Poor you, we keep getting told that gardens are very dangerous places, hope your bruises bring you lots of sympathy and that they soon heal. I think metal toed shoes and cricket pads should be dress code for the future!
I think you’re right. It’s certainly necessary to cover up, there are killer horse flies down there.
Your accident file just gets bigger & bigger doesn’t it ?
I like the reflection of the posts in the water.
I hadn’t noticed the reflections before.. good spot.
Ouch indeed! I prescribe lots of sitting down with your foot up on a stool, being waited on hand and foot. My diagnosis is that it will take about three weeks before you are fit for duty!!
Dr Anne, I will take your advice!
I am wincing in sympathy; I’ve experience of work like this and the injuries, too. And your river looks such a peaceful, idyllic place!
Thanks Wendy. One day, I hope, it will all be worth it.
Anyone for water cricket?
And ouch. I disagree with Anne’s prognosis though … 4 weeks rest at least.
It’ll take a pretty fast bowl to shift those stumps..
Oh boy, poor you. I hope you’ll ice and elevate it tonight. I too have done dumb things like that. One the handle is too long for a woman and it is very heavy. It’s is meant for bigger beings to drive things into the ground. We have an auger now for post work. Will you be packing in material behind the posts?
We’re waiting on some wire mesh to attach to the posts from behind (there are now more posts across the width of the slippage) and then the plan is to backfill with stones. Plenty of them in the riverbed.
Hope you heal quickly Jessica, I got a shiver down my spine when I read your post.
Yes, as with Suzanne’s comment, an auger would make short work of post-driving.
Full marks on the effort, you’ve got a big job ahead of you !
~Jo
Thanks Jo. An auger looks like a useful tool to get. Somehow I don’t think this will be the last of the post-driving!
Ow ow ow! Those sledgehammers are heavy, dangerous suckers. Hope you heal up soon!
Thanks Natalie, arm muscles are firming up nicely though!
Isn’t mutual trust in a marriage a wonderful thing – I tell my other half this all the time…
It’s front of mind when there is a heavy chunk of metal flying about within a few inches of your head.
Ouch! Think Dr Anne has the right idea! 🙂 Would love to try a game of water cricket 😉 TMS is on and when I saw the photo it reminded immediately of stumps too.
Excellent. I almost have enough volunteers to put up a team.
Ow, poor you, that sounds like agony. I can sympathise, I have a layer of rock a few inches down in my garden, and any serious digging requires a huge and heavy iron spike. I think you need to lie down in the shade with a cook drink until the bruises fade.
Gardening isn’t easy is it!
No, no, no…you need your ankles! So sorry to hear they took a beating.
Thanks Laura. Often it isn’t until you damage something you realise just how much you really do use it!
I do wonder what would have happened if you gripped the poles and he wielded the sledge hammer…
If he had hit his ankle there would have been a lot more fuss.
I know you’re making light of it, but hope your bruised ankle and, I imagine, aching muscles recover soon.
Also hope you’re not having to work against time and the weather. (We had rainstorms here again yesterday, but it’s calmer today so far….). Take care both of you.
Lots of rain overnight. It’s a bit of a race because the river level is now rising….!!
Thanks Linda.
Ow, ow! I had a ‘glancing blow’ from a dismantled wardrobe door once, and still have the photo of the giant black haggis that had been my ankle….. Much sympathy to you!
Glancing blows can be very tricky, especially if they should happen to glance off that bit of bone that sticks out.
I’m impressed that you missed the temptingly close target of other half’s head, but was it really necessary to attempt to get out of the job by belting yourself in the ankle?! Hope the bruising has subsided…
It worked for a little while.. !