Monday September 15 2025, Cemetery work day

 Monday September 15, 2025

Up at seven AM and out the door by nine, today is a work day. Millie and I have decided to dig our own graves! In the last year or so Millie and I have dug or been there while other family members dug small graves for cremated remains at the family cemetery. I can honestly say, I have never dug in harder-rocky-clay then the ground at the cemetery, it was like concrete 

You have to reach a certain age before this makes sense


Not that we plan on using our plots anytime soon, our reasoning for pre-digging is just to make it easier for whoever plants us and to insure we would be planted at a sufficient depth. Believe me, the morning of any grave side gathering is not the time to start digging there. 

I suppose I could have contracted with Mountain View Cemetery in Ridgeway to dig the holes, they’ve always given us good service when we’ve had caskets buried or headstones set in place. I just didn’t think it would be as difficult as it turned out to be. 

My cobbled together power auger


I had recently fabricated a low speed high torque driver to sink some mobile home anchors and I thought it would work great for digging at the cemetery. Based on a Milwaukee angle drill which runs at 500 RPM's, that turns a 4 to 1 reduction gear for a working 125 RPM. I also took my Milwaukie impact driver and one inch auger bit in case I had to work around any rocks or roots. Back in my electrical construction days that old Milwaukee has driven hundreds of holes thru all kinds of wood, brick, stone and concrete and I was confident it would work on this job. 

Our intension was to dig the graves and refill the holes with sand, which would be easy to dig out on the actual burial day. Jason and Betty had also thought it was a good idea and wanted their reserved plots pre-dug. 

As it turned out neither digger was up to the task. I had clearly under estimated the job at hand. The big digger did well enough until it would jam up on a rock or sit on top of a seam of hard red clay and not bite into it. The Milwaukee gave it her best but at the end of the day it was hot, smoking and making bad mechanical sounds. 

Ready for the sand fill


We got two holes completed and Millie said, you’re done. She was afraid I might have the big one and fall into one of the holes! It didn’t take any more convincing, I was spent and old enough to know when to quit. I admit defeat for the day but not the battle, Next work day at the cemetery, I will bring the big guns. I have an electric Jack hammer that will make short work of the red clay and a bigger impact tool for busting rocks and big heavy hand tools!

Millie trimming along the back fence



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