MikeIsLosingIt.com

Last week Louanne decided that she wanted to do a square foot garden in the backyard, so I volunteered to get it all set up for her, including running drip irrigation to it from our patio. The irrigation would involve digging a trench across the yard and running a hose to it from the faucet. I did a similar project almost exactly a year ago to run drip irrigation to some trees we planted the previous year, and boy do I remember that job well. It was hot, exhausting, and took me several hours to finish (around SIX if I remember correctly), plus a couple of hours the next day to fix some problems I encountered. I was completely wiped out and sore for days afterwards. By the end of it, digging that trench all the way across the yard felt like I had been digging my own grave.

I anticipated at least a few hours of misery again this time, but was amazed at how easy it all went. It took me two hours, including looking everything over at the beginning and taking a 30 minute break in the middle for some water and to cool off. It was really no big deal at all. When I finished I felt like I could have done it all over again and still wouldn’t be tired from it. No exhaustion, no soreness, nothing. I couldn’t believe how different the experience could be between the two similar projects. Clearly, working out with a trainer for four months has had a much more significant effect on my strength and endurance than I realized. That’s very encouraging and motivates me all the more.

If you want to see the result of the project, Louanne put a post up about it on our family blog.