You know I'm not a fan of illegal immigration

[Sum Dum Gai]

but there's 12,000 pounds of gravel in my driveway that needs to go in the backyard, and I've got a shovel and wheelbarrow to make it happen. Now, I could spend all day breaking my back doing this on my own. Or, I could head down to Lowes, Ace, or Home Depot and grab some random undocumented guy from the parking lot that will do it for $5-10 an hour.

Decisions, decisions.

How much of a hypocrite would I be to bash companies for hiring illegals, and bringing in Visa workers to undercut US workers, then hiring one under the table the first time I have to do something shitty in the yard?

[Deleted]

Everyone is a hypocrite. Go hire someone.

[midjd]

I agree that everyone is a hypocrite

Could you check on Craigslist? There are a lot of postings in this area by underemployed construction workers, etc. who are willing to work for pretty cheap.

[Sum Dum Gai]

$15??? I'd be hiring an illegal that's being paid in cash, not a union guy looking for some extra work. $15/hr for the ability to use a shovel... please.

[Deleted]

Huge hypocrite. HUGE! Once you hire an illegal you lose all rights to bitch about them.

[Sum Dum Gai]

Oh my god I should have hired somebody. It's only been an hour...

I'm not going to be able to move for days.

[Deleted]

Don't pull that, I know you hired someone. I am going to follow you around and call you out every time you try to say something about illegals.

[mollyanna58]

Not all the guys at Lowe's etc are actually illegal. Ask for guys with green cards.

[mtman]

I once traded 11 cans of bud light (swollen up from setting frozen in a shed all winter) with a bum to load a truck with construction debris.....Don't worry about being a hypocrite......When it comes to bums and minorities......It's amazing what you can get done for very little money.

[Deleted]

The going rate in Alabama is $10 an hour, and they work in crews. You also have to provide lunch.

[Mardi Gras Audrey]

Where are your girls? How are they going to learn a good work ethic if Daddy doesn't make them shovel?

Give them a wheelbarrow and tell them to hop to it! ;D

[taz157]

Dec 8, 2012 17:26:47 GMT -5 Mardi Gras Audrey said:

Where are your girls? How are they going to learn a good work ethic if Daddy doesn't make them shovel?

Give them a wheelbarrow and tell them to hop to it! ;D

;D You can help them and considering bonding time with the girls. ;D

[Sum Dum Gai]

The girls are raking the gravel out while I bring it back. Well... mostly the wife is.

Don't pull that, I know you hired someone.

I suppose it's better to have people overestimating your intelligence instead of underestimating it...

[Deleted]

"Where are your girls? How are they going to learn a good work ethic if Daddy doesn't make them shovel?

Give them a wheelbarrow and tell them to hop to it!"

We did a lot of this as kids. Every spring (usually just in time for mother's day), Dad would find out who was building a swimming pool and talk the driver into dumping the dirt into our driveway. It usually took a week of shoveling to clear it.

It's hard, cheek busting work!

[Deleted]

Gravel for the backyard? That sounds classy.

[midjd]

No Rukh, construction around here pays about the same. My uncle makes $40K a year or so and only works from April - Sept.

[quince]

I love rock gardens for homes in the bay area- leaf blower to clean it up and you don't need to water. My parents did this with the back yard of their first house in the area and it was fantastic. I hate mowing. . They did complain to me about how badly they underestimated the amount of stone they'd need.

I would have paid someone to do it, but not specifically an illegal immigrant. DH doesn't like paying people to do things that we're capable of, though, so I'd probably spend about a week recovering.

[Sum Dum Gai]

Gravel for the backyard? That sounds classy.

It beats the hell out of mud.

[Deleted]

Dec 8, 2012 20:21:47 GMT -5 Sum Dum Gai said:

Gravel for the backyard? That sounds classy.

It beats the hell out of mud.

god made dirt, so dirt don't hurt

[Sum Dum Gai]

It doesn't hurt, but having the dog track it through the house is a pain in the ass.

[Deleted]

What is wrong with grass?

[Sum Dum Gai]

Growing grass in our backyard has been very hit or miss. We tend to get clumps of it with moss growing on the dirt in between. Our weather is just weird, and really wet. The grass in the front grows great, but it gets more sun. The backyard only gets sun in the afternoon, and by early evening it's shaded again by the hedge. It never gets enough sun to completely dry out so the moss grows faster than the grass. Dandelions and stinging nettles grow like crazy though.

[lurkyloo]

Grass as you think of it isn't really indigenous to most of California...mostly too dry here and it needs a lot of watering, which is a fairly precious (and expensive) resource. Dark, you might have more luck if you tried just putting sod down. It takes some babying at first, but with the rainy season coming up that shouldn't be too hard. Plus sod is lighter than gravel and you can walk around bitching about "sodding this" and "sodding that" with a bad fake British accent.

Course then you'd have 6 tons of gravel to get rid of.

How big an area are you looking to cover?

[Sum Dum Gai]

40' by an average of 12' to a depth of around 4-6". The house isn't flat in the back some sections are a bit shorter and some longer. It's the area that used to be a deck, which had rotting supports so it had to be ripped out to pass the VA inspection. After we ripped out the deck it was a big dirt patch, surrounded by sidewalk. The gravel was $45 a ton so filling it in was pretty cheap and this way we don't have to dork with manual sprinklers and stuff.

[BeenThere...DoneThat...]

Dec 9, 2012 15:48:04 GMT -5 Sum Dum Gai said:

40' by an average of 12' to a depth of around 4-6". The house isn't flat in the back some sections are a bit shorter and some longer. It's the area that used to be a deck, which had rotting supports so it had to be ripped out to pass the VA inspection. After we ripped out the deck it was a big dirt patch, surrounded by sidewalk. The gravel was $45 a ton so filling it in was pretty cheap and this way we don't have to dork with manual sprinklers and stuff.

...so, how's it looking?

...and how's your back?

[Deleted]

Why do you assume they are undocumented?

Yes, if you hire someone you have been dissing for 2 years it makes you a hypocrite, or a Repub, I'm not sure which ;D

[Sum Dum Gai]

...so, how's it looking?

...and how's your back?

It looks better than I thought it would actually.

And my back is sore and stiff.

Why do you assume they are undocumented?

Because most of them don't speak a word of English.

[zibazinski]

Oh, they speak it and understand it, they choose to pretend not to. With your family's help, I'd do it myself. One, its good exercise, and two, I'm cheap.

[Wisconsin Beth]

My brother comes and borrows my wheelbarrow every summer to do dirt/mulch/whatever moving. He makes his kids help. Last year it was just him and his daughter (she was 18) 'cause the boys were at school.