Digging up the yard

Friday was a productive day. I rented a mini-backhoe and was able to remove 98% of the rock from the garden area (which had formerly been in what is now the shop area of the barn). I used it to build a better roadway to the back of the property, which in theory should get me around the wet spots in the ground during the spring rains. It's still pretty rough, but it'll do for now. And at least most of the stone is off the garden!

My first project was to regrade the area around the new shop garage door entrance, so the slope will allow the water to drain away from the door, not into it. I found the same ridge of rock they'd worked on in the barn/shop floor, right outside the door. I may try to break some of that up with a digging bar, or just leave it until Butch comes with his backhoe.

I also went poking around the house in the "West Wing" area and found that the ground there has some ribs of rock running through it, but there is a lot of soil between the "pages" of rock. Think of a book laying with it's spine on a table and pages standing straight up, with space between each page. Each page is a layer of rock, on edge. Some of it I could snap off with the backhoe, much of it is tougher and will require the "jackhammer" of Butch the professional backhoe guy.

I got a late start, but worked until 9:15 under the lights, so it made up for it. Gotta scoot back there today and try to dig a bit more before they come for it. :)

Doug