Life and times of DM: Driveway Havoc

So I invited my father down (AKA the supervisor) to assist in the removal of the dead grass in my soon to be expanded driveway. So I left him to start pulling up the grass and I headed back up to my hill of terror. I got about 5 minutes into it and my metal rake was broken by the vines of death. Blackberry bushes defeated my metal rake???

So I had the supervisor dig about 6" down right along the line that the utility companies came and sprayed (verizon, comcast,pud,etc). Nothing was discovered and so I figured that the lines were further down(18-24").

I decided to join the supervisor and head down and help dig the top layer of the grass off. It was found that the grass/dirt in that area was incredibly hard and compact. After about an hour of digging we both decided that it was going to be a long and painful day. Since my rake was broken I needed to head to Lowes and purchase a new one that we'd also stop by Hertz and see if they had any small rototillers for rent. Got one for 3 hours for $35 dollars. I figure that's a great deal and I should be able to bang it out in less than three hours. We head home with the tool in hand unload it.

I get working and realize that this thing is a real bear to work with. One because the ground is hard as a rock and two because the bugger is heavy. After a few hours of work I've finished off about 95%, battered, beaten, burned, and about to give up the ghost. We load it back up on the truck and head back to the Hertz shop. Drop it off and make our way back to my house.

Run in and take a shower and then head downstairs to check a few things online. Well I don't have a signal and I'm not getting out anywhere. So I check my router, my terminal out on the side of the house and both of them are in an error state. I immediately think - the line is cut. I run into the garage and grab my shovel and start digging. After about 5 minutes of digging I realize that the utility company didn't come even close to spraying the lines right for my fiber cable. I found at least one spot where I'd cut it with the rototiller.

So I call Verizon and go through the whole deal with them. Thankfully I got on the phone with someone who actually cared. Apparently this is not an uncommon thing as the guys out there spraying are using a metal detector to find the lines. Well for those of you who don't know about a fiber cable, its made out of glass. Glass doesn't reflect well with a metal detector. I was promised to be contact in the next 24-28 hours and that someone would be out to fix the severed cable.