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We started work on breaking up the concrete lid of the old septic tank. And I have to say, it went a lot faster than I expected! Don't get me wrong; it's really hard. Chain gang hard, as Georg said. You have to whack the concrete with a sledgehammer until it cracks, then whack it some more to break it into manageable pieces. And the concrete is reinforced with wire inside, so then you have to cut the wire with bolt cutters. The problem is that when the concrete cracks, it falls in on itself, which makes the wire hard to reach. So sometimes you have to whack at the broken places to open it up enough to cut the wires.

This is definitely the hardest thing we've done in the yard. The swinging the sledgehammer part is about as hard as chopping wood, except that you can place the wood where you want to hit it, but getting to the concrete can be awkward, especially if it's fallen in and you have to stoop down. Also, stacking chopped wood is a lot easier than moving chunks of concrete.

We had identified an unused area in the back where we could dump the concrete, but then we realized that Jane likes to ramble around that part of the yard. And we don't want her running around and over chunks of concrete with jagged wires sticking out of them. So we ended up dumping all the concrete in a hole I had been digging outside the fence, where the dogs can't get to it. It's unsightly but we'll take it all to the landfill when we're done.

Which won't take that long if we get decent weather! We worked for less than 45 minutes yesterday, completely removed the slab that was already broken, and also made good headway on one of the intact slabs. On the other hand, by the end of the 45 minutes we both collapsed. My shoulders are so sore. Maybe it's good that it's too cold to work outside today.

The good news is that the sides are made of hollow concrete blocks, and will be much easier to break apart than the lid. Georg thinks we might even be able to use the digging bar to pry the walls loose, instead of having to smash each block with the sledgehammer.

Our first daffodils are in bloom! Actually they opened up last week, but today was the first day I was home to take a photo while the sun was out.

These aren't the ones we planted last year; those are coming up but not blooming yet. These are a few that have been there since we moved in. They're right under the exhaust vent for the water heater. I was worried that the exhaust would give off fumes that would hurt plants, but it seems like maybe the warm air encouraged the daffodils to bloom early. I'm going to plant a bay leaf right by that vent in spring and see how it does.

Speaking of spring, some more seeds arrived today! The dwarf sunflowers and the tall zinnias. Which makes me all the more anxious to get that bed ready in the side yard. I got another hour's work done on it today. The bad news is, I found another slab of concrete. That makes three intact slabs, one missing, and one partly broken. Each one looks to be 2×6', which makes the whole septic tank 6×10'. I wonder how deep it is? I guess we'll find out soon enough.

The good news is, I got the new slab almost completely uncovered in an hour. The clay was almost perfect today: still damp enough to break up easily, but not wet enough to be quite so heavy. While I was dumping soil I saw the little girl next door. She asked me what I was doing, and I told her I was moving dirt. We agreed that moving dirt was hard work. I told her I was using the dirt to fill in holes the dogs had made. She told me I should save some dirt in case the dog had a bone to hide and dug another hole. I thought that was pretty clever!