I Tempted Fate and Lost

I have been making good progress on my wall. I ordered 20 yards of fill dirt that were due to come at 1:00 today. The wall is held together by weight of the blocks, a lip on the back of each block and the fact that it is steped into the earth behind it. Back filling the wall as I build is very important. I knew this. I have been doing it using both drainage rock, which is very heavy and shoveling dirt from my existing garden, which is exhausting.

I got too cocky, and as I waited for for the fill dirt to arrive, I just kept building since I was on my last course. You know what happens to cocky people, they fail. (At least that is what I am hopping happens in November). So a huge four course section of the wall fell into the middle. Since I have used adhesive on the last two courses they were stuck together.

It was heart breaking, but not unrecoverable. I replaced two courses and went back to Lowe’s for more drainage rock. I left the blocks that were glued together where they fell as they acted as a good barricade for me to fill in with the rocks. I moved 2,500 pounds of rocks and stacked 1,680 pounds of block today.

Then my fill dirt arrived. 20 yards is a lot of dirt. They did a good job of dropping it where I need it in two different loads. I shoveled about 2 yards worth and felt like the wall is well supported for now. I had worked for five and a half hours non-stop with my only rest being driving to and from Lowe’s. I knew I had to stop or else I would be no good tomorrow.

Tomorrow I will probably just shovel dirt for four hours and not worry about finishing the wall until I have enough backfill supporting every course. If only I had waited I would not have lost basically a day of work. This is what I get for being impatient. Thankfully I have plenty of block. The silver lining is I got an incredible core work out. Unfortunately I will finish the wall before I get look like I worked this hard.