Boys Just Gotta Dig.
I got an email from my son Tom the other day. He and his wife are new home owners. In the email he said:
Sheryl and I made an agreement that I would not start working on a pond until we have a taller fence for privacy and I fix all immediate house problems that need to be fixed. Thursday morning I was very bored because I dont go to work until noon so I decided to dig out the clothesline poles in the backyard, they are ugly and take up the sunniest spot for gardening and such. Two days and two large holes later I decided I might as well start on the pond since I now have two large holes all ready dug! Sheryl was so impressed with how large and fast I dug that she didn’t mind too much.
Sheryl should have done a little more checking on Tommy’s background. What she is not aware of is that digging holes for boys is what accessorizing is for girls. Girls aren’t going any where when they accessorize. Putting the jewelery, hats etc on is it’s own reward.
For boys, digging holes ranks right up there with building fires. And, it has none of the inherent risk of fire building. Though risk assessment and management are as foreign to a young man as they are to a George W Bush war plan. Yes, digging a hole is an immense pleasure.
Do women have any idea what it feels like to use rope and ladder to climb out of a hole, lean on your shovel and gaze over the precipice? Why do you think God created places like the Grand Canyon? Yes digging holes is… well it’s… it’s next to Godliness!
When my father dug out the basement under the house where I grew up he piled the dirt in back yard. The intent was to eventually haul it off. It became such a great place for little boys to dig that he just decided to leave it.
It was so much better than a sandbox. A sandbox was for city kids who wore Bermuda shorts and pressed collared polo shirts and dug in their sand box with a tiny shovel and pail from the five and dime.
We had a manly sized place to dig. There is a hole on that small hill that is the result of much of my youthful energy. Over the course of the years it was a farm, a lake, manly construction site,military fortress etc. It continues on to this day as a fire pit for wieny roasts.
Women just don’t understand the pleasure of digging a hole just for the sake of digging. It is the lack of understanding the young male mindset in regards to digging that caused Tommy’s mother to be outwitted in an attempt to put an end to his badgering her to let him build a pond in the backyard.
She finally gave in and told him if he would dig the hole himself he could have a pond. My gosh woman why didn’t you ask me first? You couldn’t have made Tommy happier if you had given him his birthday and Christmas every day for the next 15 years and unlimited free passes for putting any of his collection of critters in his sister’s bed.
Two hours later she looked out the window and to her horror Tommy had disappeared. To her chagrin, where he once had been there was a crater that would swallow a school bus. From its bowels a constant stream of dust and dirt was spewing forth.
Poor Sheryl, she has so much to learn. Take some advice from your father-in-law. No matter how much fire insurance you have on your new house, double it.
May 27th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Oh gosh, I’m so homesick for that old hill in the back yard after reading that. So many good times had by lots of little girls and little boys (and the not so little ones too) over the years. I need to go back. I enjoyed hearing about Tommy’s hole digging. With all the experience he seems to have had in that regard, I’d like to see what he would think of digging a hole in my back yard. They don’t call it Stone Oak here for nothing.
May 28th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
My brothers were the same way…fire, dirt, cars, motorcycles you name it!
Loved the post! brought back a lot of memories.
thanks!
Carey