Continuing with this week’s theme of manpower, Matt would like for me to formally retract the statement I made last week that trenching the satellite line was “no sweat.”

As the person who spent six hours burying the wire, Matt would like it made known that this job was no small task.

The distance from the satellite dish to the house was about 150 feet. Given that length, it didn’t matter that the trench was only six inches deep; this was a tough job.

The satellite wire is to the left of the trench

In addition to the length of the trench, the other challenge was the trench’s position through and alongside a stand of trees. Matt had to contend with a lot of roots while he was digging.

A particularly large root that Matt encountered on his excavation

Once he had the trench done, it was a simple matter (hope I don’t get in trouble for downplaying this part of the job) of laying the wire in the bottom.

The wire in the trench

As I mentioned last week, the wire runs under our patio for a short distance. While we’d already worked together to trench this section, once the wire was in place Matt had to backfill, level and reset the patio slabs.

Patio slabs back in place

He also had to cut an extra few inches of plastic conduit and slit it to go around the wire. This protects the wire where it comes out of the ground so that it doesn’t get pinched or cut.

He used just a basic plastic pipe for the conduit and slit it to go around the wire

When Matt was digging, he kept sod on one side of the trench and top soil on the other, so that everything could be neatly put back in place. This made for a very tidy lawn at the end of the day.

You can’t even tell Matt was there

And what does manpower look like after six hours of sweaty work? Matt documented that for me as well:

Note the staging with the feet on the table, the shovel in the shot and the satellite in the distance. Note as well the angle of the setting sun showing how long Matt was working at this job.

There you go, Matt. I hope that this post makes up for any downplaying of your efforts and skills. Thank you for all of your work on this job and all of the others you take on to make our home all that we want it to be.