congrats. I know exactly what you mean.

I once picked up 1000sf of slate off of Craigslist and laid all of it for my dad. I hired someone some to pour the concrete but I did the tiling. It’s satisfying to accomplish something with your bare hands. The worse part was loading everything onto the pickup and unloading. But I did it.

I’m a big fan of incorporating work into exercise. The key to being healthy is to be deliberate to avoid occupational hazards such as breathing dust, too much sun, etc…

that’s why I have a lot of respect for Mexican immigrants who do all the grunt work. I once hired a guy off of Craigslist to do my granite countertops in Vegas. He and his buddies worked under 100F weather to get it all done. I was impressed.

I’m a big believer in not sitting on your ass and doing things around the house. Move non-stop, do physical work, exercise, eat well and you’ll live a long time.

how big were the rocks? Did you use some equipment to move them onto and off of the UHaul?

I agree that weight lifting is totally bullshit compared to actual work.

Sounds like you have some nice acreage with 150 trees. You could build your property like a resort, with stone walls as sitting areas, gazebos, walkways, etc…

Digging the concrete foundations and doing all the work will provide exercise for years!

BTW, I don’t recommend placing the flagstone on dirt. If you want low maintenance, you need to build a real concrete walkway/terrace, lay the flagstone over concrete, then properly finish. Otherwise you will end up with weeds and crabgrass in between the flagstone which looks bad and requires maintenance.

[quote=FlyerInHi]congrats. I know exactly what you mean.

I once picked up 1000sf of slate off of Craigslist and laid all of it for my dad. I hired someone some to pour the concrete but I did the tiling. It’s satisfying to accomplish something with your bare hands. The worse part was loading everything onto the pickup and unloading. But I did it.

I’m a big fan of incorporating work into exercise. The key to being healthy is to be deliberate to avoid occupational hazards such as breathing dust, too much sun, etc…

that’s why I have a lot of respect for Mexican immigrants who do all the grunt work. I once hired a guy off of Craigslist to do my granite countertops in Vegas. He and his buddies worked under 100F weather to get it all done. I was impressed.

I’m a big believer in not sitting on your ass and doing things around the house. Move non-stop, do physical work, exercise, eat well and you’ll live a long time.[/quote]

The shit work,

When Mexican immigrants do it all their lives , it’s admirable.
When you do it it’s good exercise and healthy and enjoyable, maybe profitable.
When married people with kids do it , it means they have made miserable choices and have screwed up lives. Strange.

Humans are meant to keep on moving. So physical work is noble work no matter who does it. It’s good to work and remain strong and healthy.

Like anything else, work becomes shit work if it’s low paying and detrimental to your health.