Oh my achin’ (insert multiple body parts here)…
Remember those days when we could work all day and not give it a second thought?
Me neither…
Half pallet of sod here… And my neighbor’s daughter took pity on me and came over to help me get it out. I didn’t turn her down either!!!
Various other locations took the other half pallet. Including unknown asshat that didn’t make the corner sometime last week… Sigh…
All done! The goal was to get it down before the rain came…
Only problem is, no rain… Dammit! So now I’ve gotta water.
600mg Ibuprofen will have gone down the hatch by the time you read this just so I can get mobile this morning…
Laying sod is no fun.
Ibuprofen is your friend. 600 mg is a good start.
growing old is not for wimps.
I feel for you my friend. Had it been my yard I would’ve left it dirt, no aching back and no mowing all summer. I’m just lazy like that.
I wish the Tom Sawyer whitewash trick worked in real life.
“No, I’d like your help, but you have to really know what you are doing to lay sod, you could try this little area.”
Maybe a Craiglist post that says, “Sod Installation Training, reduced price only five dollars.” ‘Cause if they don’t pay then there is no value.
I think the next shirt design will clone a sports theme/meme but say “Team Advil.”
Laying sod is REAL stoop labor. I’m glad that I didn’t arrive there at the homestead when you needed help (I’m that kind of friend), but am looking forward to a visit and lunch next month if you’re in town (date still to be determined).
It takes 1k mg. Tylenol to get me started every day, without having paid for the previous day’s mistakes.
Gah, put a gooseneck stock trailer worth of sod in once. Took me most of a day. Learned that I don’t ever want to do that again, at least not by myself.
Hope there is a masseuse and a hot tub in your future.
Don’t do that anymore. Call your local unemployment office. They will send over a couple of stout people.
That’s why those guys hang out in front of Home Depot.
X2
You have my sympathy, sir. My back won’t allow me to bend over that far, to start with, so someone else would have to do it anyhow.
Ha!
Ha!Ha!
Ha!Ha!Ha!
That was my patented three stage laugh – you being foolish enough to take on the sod project all by yourself.
You know, if I’d seen you doing this, I would have come over to help you, mainly out of a sense of Christian duty coupled with the certain sure knowledge that no one in his right mind would do anything more than wave cheerfully on their way past. “I’d like to help you, but I’ve got an appointment – just think how nice it will look when you’re finished!”
Yeah, yeah, I know. I know.
So follow the meds with a shot of whiskey, maybe two, and take tomorrow off. You went out there and proved us old guys can still do it.
Rick- Nope, not a bit!
Roger- I ‘started’ with 800… sigh
da-truth- New in the neighborhood, trying to make a good impression and all that… 🙂
John- LOL, yeah, right!
LL- That it is! I’ll be back on the 16th.
Craig- I’m not there… Yet…
Dammit- Yeah, right… How about a hot bath and more ibuprofen? Cause that’s all I got…
WSF/Ed/LL- NOW you tell me… sigh
Rev- Well, I had no choice. The reduced income and all that.
MJ- ;-P Thanks a bunch…LOL I’m writing today since that is about ALL the physical labor I can do!
My back won’t let me do that kind of stooping or work. I would have to lay on the ground and crawl from spot to spot and lay the sod. But then, I don’t even have to do that. My grandson live in a trailer in the side yard, and he would gladly do it or be kicked off the property.
Growing old sucks. I used to be able to move anything that the division chief pointed at. Go get a 60 pound switch box from supply down on the 8th deck and carry it up to the 03 level? No problem. Got a 200 pound plus duffel bag full of mission tapes that need to be degaussed at the local ASCAC? I’m your man. Need to move that 4 drawer fire resistant safe full of paperwork (1500 pounds or so) up a short flight of stairs? I did it alone.
Now I can hardly carry myself up the stairs.
Green side up. You are now a Sod Layer 2nd Class.
Gotta be a Texas thing. We just rough the top up, toss some grass seed down, and cover with straw. Instant lawn 😀
Good on ya though, looks nice.
Ouch – my back just hurts looking at that.
Your home is really shaping up though. You found the perfect spot to retire.
That grass will die. Sorry. Unless you water the heck out of it. Expect your water bill will rise. Water, Water, Water. Water it. More Water. Water. Seriously more water. Sigh.
That’s going to a lot of trouble just to set yourself up for months of watering and mowing.
Oh, and a few spike strips sunk into the lawn will take care of asshats who can’t stay on the pavement…
Spike strips are illegal to place in the front lawn anywhere in the US, AFAIK. Large landscape boulders, on the other hand, are perfectly fine. We had a corner house and a fellow liked to cut the corner in his pickup, until the landscape boulders went in. He did it one last time, and lost his oil pan. Think of them as Dragon’s Teeth.
A suggestion, if I may…..you’ll find the grass – when the sod fully takes hold – right up against the house will be a PITA to mow and keep trimmed, plus watering it will wet the brick. Brick, contrary to common belief, is not waterproof – it will absorb water and transmit a portion of that throughout the brick. Rain is one thing, a lawn irrigation system is another completely. I’m guessing it’s a brick veneer, if so there’s wood behind it, and wood is rarely appreciative of constant moisture. Bugs, especially termites, love moisture, however.
My solution was a 24″ wide “flower bed” – I removed the sod and 3″-4″ of topsoil, laid two layers of landscape fabric to prevent weeds, installed medium pots (16″-18″ diameter) on 48″ centers containing gravel for drainage, the topsoil removed earlier and plants a fellow domicle resident found attractive, and filled the space around the pots with medium river rock (2″-3″ diameter), effectively burying the pots a little over 1/3 deep in the rock. Pressure treated 1X6 was installed to contain the rock and form a border, which also allowed whomever was charged with power weed wacking to be a bit sloppy. Plants in pots makes spraying Roundup on the gravel to kill the inevitable weeds easier, and the mission of applying water to the plants in the pots provides a periodic repetitive task for the junior members of the firm to carry out.
Needless to say, it winds up being a labor intensive project involving heavy use of wheelbarrow and Idiot Stick, so buy ibuprofen in bulk…
+1 for Alien
Concrete, the best lawn there is….
All- Thanks and I’m now rethinking Alien… Sigh.
Posted from my iPhone.
Ouch! That hurts just looking at it: hot shower and whiskey.
Like Rev.Paul my back will not allow me to do such things.
Was she cute?
NC- Concur, except Scotch! 🙂
Rick- Yep, and engaged, June wedding! 😀
Old NFO: short version of what you probably already know, but just in case- ibuprofen or whiskey but not both so your liver doesn’t melt, please. Hot shower in either case. BZ on the grass. Screw the neighbors; let it die after they’re impressed. Less work.