First Tile in the ground

I started early this morning chipping away at the frozen dirt with a pick. That was a lot like beating on cured cement for about an hour or so until I got down another 6" (150mm). After that the ground was thawed and the digging went much better.

I didn't want to deprive my kids of the opportunity, so I got them out to help as soon as they were done with their other chores. I think they were really happy to have the opportunity to help out!

Anyway, we dug down just over 6' (1.8m) and a little over 4' (1.2m) in diameter.

Then we made a small ramp area to let the tile ease down over a soft edge.

I don't have any heavy equipment rented yet, so we resorted to using the Kia to pull the tiles into place. First we laid down a few junk boards from the shed we tore down earlier and used them as rails to slide the tile toward the hole. Once the tile was teetering near the edge we reworked the straps and positioned the car on the other side to act as a brake. We laid out enough slack in the rope to allow us to get the tile rotated into the hole. Once that was done, I just backed up a few inches and the tile smoothly slid right into place. No drama!