We are on the hunt for a gently used excavator. By “we” I mean Mr. Wonderful, obviously. I would not have a CLUE that we needed an excavator if he had not informed me of this fact almost daily for the last THREE MONTHS ALMOST WITHOUT FAIL.
No job would be too big, or too small, if only we had our own excavator. Dredge the creek? Easy peasy with an excavator! Dig fence post holes? Excavator, obviously. Put in a lake? Excavator. Lose that last stubborn 20 pounds? Excavator!
OK, that last one is a stretch, but if he thought it would sway me he might make that argument. The man knows no limit. The thing is, that sort of heavy equipment propaganda weighs on a person. I went from “that is absolutely RIDICULOUS” to “clearly, we “need” an excavator.” I honestly don’t know how we have gone so long without one. We are living like savages, obviously.
This is not his first rodeo. He knows how to win my heart. This excavator, if we should get one, would also benefit THE CHILDREN! Yes. With an excavator (and a larger trailer perhaps?) we would ride around the state visiting our adult children at their respective properties and excavate things! We could help our parents! I’m not sure our parents WANT anything excavated but by golly they might just have to dig something up. (See what I did there?)
Mr. Wonderful has had a lot of big ideas over the years. He’s a pretty down to earth guy so I DO listen. I believe that is the secret to a good relationship. I usually figure these minor obsessions will either wear themselves out — or we will end up owning something pretty cool.
In my quest to be a team player, I started looking online for an excavator too. Keep in mind I know NOTHING about heavy equipment. Is this heavy equipment? Mildly chunky equipment? I have no idea. I just typed “used excavator” into online search engines. This is fun because now the online algorithm has NO IDEA who I am. I like thrifting, dogs, recipes and … construction work?
They decided immediately that I may also be in the market for a man lift, a bulldozer and something called a JCB? Oh, and a forklift. Honestly with the way I love to buy oversized antique furniture and warehouse club groceries a forklift might come in real handy.
Right now, it’s all very “if you give a mouse a cookie …” A great tractor with a big bucket was the gateway drug. Then, we got a smaller tractor for mowing (I love it). If all goes well, one thing will lead to the next, and I suspect one day I will just have my own construction site complete with lots of fun “toys” and tools to get jobs done that, frankly, we no longer want to do.
As I have already noted, I think supporting your partner’s dreams is very important. Do I believe we “need” an excavator? Probably not. Do I believe we want one very much and could probably get up to some real rip roaring shenanigans if we had one on hand? Absolutely! This is 100% true. We have reached that stage of life where the adult children are grown and on their own (and probably a wee bit worried about us). We have what is known as “adult money,” and what we used to spend on, say, soccer cleats and school lunch fees, we can now put toward wholly unnecessary but very interesting used equipment purchases. I like to say it keeps him off the streets. However, if we end up driving around visiting everyone we know offering to excavate, that may not be entirely true.
I’m just looking for a nice gently used excavator. Not too big. Not too small. I’m like Goldilocks visiting (breaking and entering) the home of the three bears. This one is too small, that one is too big, surely there will be one that is “just right?” I’m hoping for one that was only driven on Sundays, and maybe in a cute color (I like orange). My parameters are probably unrealistic, but I’m having fun with it. I don’t know much about heavy equipment, but I can definitely dig supporting my partner’s dreams as he has always supported mine.
