"Ivan Vegvary" wrote:

-snip-
eight 27 gallon plastic totes.

-snip-
My biggest
problem, due to age, is getting the totes out from under the house and not
the digging.

What? You can't throw 27 gallons of dirt around? BG I hope you
meant 27 quarts- or I'm feeling even whimpier than when I started
going for 3 gallons instead of 5. [though I'm carrying mine up a
flight of stairs- of course that's 3 gallons in each hand.g]

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After about
10 round trips I remove all the excess dumpings with my Kubota and lose it
on my 4± acres.

Those little machines are handy. I had my brother-in-law's Kubota for
a few weeks a couple years ago. Sure speeds up the process.

While my dirt (bottom 2 feet) is quite stiff, I stopped using the Bosch
hammer. Taking a horizontal slice against a vertical bank (the slice is
only about 2 inches deep) while sitting down, is very easy. You would be
surprised how much force you can exert with a sharp spade, push of the foot
and a little wiggling.

*Sharp* spade is a good point. I've got a great little short handled
landscaping spade that is serrated, even. Though it doesn't help
much in my clay. You can peel about 1/4 inch off- but any more and it
is spade bit time. [till I get to the wet spots- but that's a whole
nother headache.]

Jim