Tool Envy

 

“Work smarter, not harder,” they said, and boy, were they right.

Recently, I decided I needed 10 yards of cedar chips for landscaping and, before I had moved more than a teaspoon or two, I decided I needed 10 MORE yards. The nice people at Packwood Prospecting were cleaning up their materials yard and brought me 12 yards for the same price. Excellent! Now I have 22 yards of cedar chips to move into multiple locations and a teaspoon to do it with. I’m sure everything will proceed smoothly.

Last time I had 10 yards of landscaping materials delivered it was 10 yards of “bark dust” for top dressing my flower beds. I worked out a very clever method of stabbing the top of the bark pile with my four-pronged pitchfork and “cracking” it into the scoop shovel I had thoughtfully positioned below. Stab! Crack! Scoop! Dump it in the cute little tractor wagon--with a dump bed! -- I pull behind my lawnmower. Works like a charm...

...For bark dust, not so much for cedar chips. I was reduced to hand scooping the chips into a five-gallon bucket. It was not as much fun as it sounds. 22 yards of cedar chips suddenly seems like a LOT.

Fortunately, my friend Robin stopped by for a visit and suggested I borrow his 10-tine mulch fork—a tool made specifically for picking up loose materials. 

10 tines! Not four! And ergonomic handle with a D end for easy gripping and enhanced leverage! And it comes in a sunny yellow color! I developed a huge case of tool envy and have been plotting ever since then on procuring one of those 10-tined beauties for myself.

And the mulch fork works really well with the “bark dust” I have left. Because yes, I ordered 22 yards of cedar chips before I had exhausted my pile of “dust.” And I still have most of a 10 yard pile of chips procured from the county a couple of seasons back when they were chipping up downed tree limps.

Clearly, I REALLY NEED A 10-tined mulch fork ...

WANT