Oh, how depressing and frustrating yesterday was! Tried to start digging our first hole with some old school post hole diggers and quickly ran into layer upon layer of rock. Not sure if it's the same thing, but back in Texas we called this stuff "caliche stone." I actually bent a pick axe trying to get through this stuff. So I drove across town and rented a gas-powered auger. And even that proved unworthy; and extremely dangerous as it would only start if you pulled the string while holding the throttle open! So I went back to the rental center and paid for a day's worth of jack hammer. And while this thing excelled at busting up the rock, the damn auger still wouldn't dig through the ground.
So now we're $700+ into fencing equipment and almost $200 into rental equipment and we haven't even been able to dig a single stinking hole to sink a post into. Ugh. Took the rental stuff back today and the guy suggested renting a Bobcat with an auger and jack hammer attachments. That's another $400. Not sure if that's worth it or not. As it stands, I think I'm just going to put the whole project on hold and see if I can return some or all of the fencing supplies.
At this point, I wonder just how many carrots and onions we'd have to grow to ever recoup our $1000 investment in a $%#& garden. I have huge bruises on my thighs now from that auger torquing into my legs on start-up and whenever it hit a rock that wouldn't budge. {sarcasm alert} At least the kids got some entertainment value out of seeing dad getting tossed around like a rag doll by this torture contraption.
UPDATE: The good folks at the Family Center have agreed to take back all the unused supplies that we aren't going to be able to use. Still kind of bummed at our lack of a fence, but at least we'll recoup most of our expenses.
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