Diggin' Postholes

I spent the morning digging postholes and when the sun starts to go down, I'll dig a few more. A posthole digger is a demanding mistress, and if you don't treat her right, she will rap your knuckles without even thinking about it.

Every redneck boy over the age of 12 knows how to hold a posthole digger so your knuckles don't get between the handles. You hold both handles in your hand like one piece of wood, and you throw that tool down the hole, using the weight of the implement to do the digging. Lift it out of the hole, rotate it ninety degrees, and throw it again. In good dirt, the soil will compact into the tool and when you take it out, there will be a core of soil between the blades. Use the handles to compress that plug of dirt and it will drop on the ground beside the hole. Grasp the tool again and throw it down the hole. Continue until the hole is as deep as you want it. One simple trick is to mark the handles of the posthole digger before you start digging. I use a felt-tipped pen and mark the depth of the hole I want, so I don't have to measure each hole with a ruler.

Digging postholes in the summer Louisiana sun will take the weight off quickly. I feel it already in my shoulders. It feels good, the honest fatigue of work well done.