Yes, Virginia there is more Rock.

Yesterday was our family's 24th anniversary of moving to Virginia.

This morning Scott gets up bright and early to hammer on more rock. About 15 minutes into the hammering, the machine spews hydraulic fluid everywhere.

Hence, NO more hammering.

So, Scott moves over to the mini excavator to see what he can do about the rest of the road going up the hill. Track falls off the machine. Can't get it back on.

Service phone call to Rental Company for the Big Excavator & Hammer. Goes to central dispatch and they send out a crew. Well, kind of. Turns out the service truck guy is no where to be found. Not reachable by phone. So, two mechanics in the shop this morning head out to Toms Brook with a truck, a couple of tools and a 5 gallon bucket of hydraulic fluid. Scott was like where is the service truck. The mechanics explain about the truck and have no idea where the service guy is, they think he is off fishing. Doofus.

Second Rental Company gets a call for the MINI excavator. They don't have a service guy for the weekend. In the meantime, I got a phone call to bring tools. I grab some wrenches in both millimeter and standard and head down the hill. Call Scott to see if I forgot anything. Turns out the mechanics cannot fix the hydraulic problem and need more tools. They might come back on Sunday with more tools and take off the side panel and track the problem. It is not obvious from the outside.

Get a phone call back from the Salesperson that Scott has a cell phone number for. He finally calls back and Scott basically tells him, he is done for the day and he can't fix it.

Every single weekend or time he rents something, it breaks. The bucket on two different machines have been ripped off, teeth still in tact. He has ripped off the sleeves for the teeth. Welded back all parts and they rip again.

So, Scott decided enough was enough because he could not do anything without the rock hammer or bucket.

Monday hopefully the hammer guy has some better news.

How many licks to the middle of a tootsie pop??

So, how many hours does it take to hammer on a rock? Scott has been hammering away at the rock in the middle of the road going on 4 days. Yesterday he talked to Jim (rental guy) about getting a new bit for the hammer as the original one broke twice after two weld jobs by Scott. Scott spent Saturday evening welding the broken bit back together.

The bit is so heavy that you can't lift it easily even when it is in two pieces!!

The progress today has been great. The lower part of the garden center is coming together and we will not have to buy any fill dirt or find some. They used all the dirt from the road and the junk VDOT dumped this past spring. The lower pad will have the mulch, rock, and other bulk items. Plus a turn-a-round area for the tractor trailers and the customers who have trailers for mulch pickup!!

Saturday evening, we were invited to a party of one of our clients. It was a great evening and we were showered with the highest of compliments of our work. We got it finished just in time as well. We are entering this project in the Keep Virginia Beautiful contest.

We are renting the mini excavator for the rest of the week. We will probably rent a much bigger excavator with hammer for the weekend.

That's all for now!!