26th April 2022
The land muncher was collected from the rental company. A quick tutorial and I was on my own. I had to also rent the towing hitch as the truck has a tow bar but not the ball thing.
I spent quite a while trying to get the part into the receptacle but as it has not been used in ten years it was full of loose rust. I wiggled away trying to achieve full engagement, but no luck. Eventually with squirts of oil and a hammer the docking manoeuvre was complete and I was on my way.
Once I got home I off loaded the muncher and drove it into the back garden.
I was instructed to run it in first gear which was painfully slow, the digging things dug into the sandy soul leaving a trail of dirt and grass tuffs. I really had to think quickly and knock it out of gear to avoid crashing through the fence, then it was the case of a hundred point turn to make the return run. The whole experience was exhausting, made worse by me forcing the diggers deep where I was almost horizontal.
In a relatively short time I had transformed the green of the back garden into a sea of dirt.
Now the next job is to remove all the dead grass and roots then level the site.
I managed to get the machine back to the rental company two hours early giving me a sizeable refund.
I will give myself a bit of a rest and start the raking tomorrow.
Another Lifetime to go 