Handles! Who knew?

Today there was a steady rain, but I had a cubic yard of garden soil scheduled to be delivered, and the weather waits for no one. The truck dumped the dirt on a tarp on the boulevard, and it was up to me to move it into the raised beds in the back garden. My hubby is recovering from a recent hernia surgery, and my son, who has been sick in bed with bronchitis all week, had to drag himself to work. So...me.

We have a wheelbarrow, but it's unwieldy trying to get it through the gate, around the corner, over the step, down the path, and between the raised beds, and then you have to shovel it out, essentially having to handle the dirt twice. The raised beds are too tall to let you simply tip the wheelbarrow to empty it. My preferred method is to use a bucket instead, which lets you easily dump it precisely where you want it, and you only have to shovel each shovelful once. 

Except all my buckets somehow ended up at the old church we're renovating. 

I had a big black flower pot that I sometimes use as a catch-all when I'm weeding, so I decided to use that. Since it had no handles, I used the hug-and-lug method, which would have been fine, but with the rain, it was a muddy mess, and as the soil got wetter, of course, it got heavier. Carrying a big pot of dirt means having to arch your back and makes seeing your feet difficult. Add to that a leaky boot, dripping hair in my eyes, and loose gravel under foot, and it was a bit hazardous.

After a while, my husband went to Canadian Tire and got me a big metal bucket with a handle, and it made a world of difference. Suddenly I could balance and walk without having to sway my back, which helped enormously. Bless whoever invented handles! I am convinced more and more that it pays to have the right tool for the job. Three hours later, I was completely soaked and muddy, but the dirt was all in place, the shovel, bucket, and tarp were hosed off, I was showered, and every bit of fabric was in the washing machine.

I will no doubt feel wrecked tomorrow, but I finally feel like spring has really arrived. The annual ritual of moving (heaven and) earth is complete. Now if it would just warm up enough to plant things!