movin dirt

We got our excavator Rusty out again this week to start moving around dirt, working on drainage and digging out trenches for running the electric. With the help of his backhoe, we were able to move the existing electric pole from the west side of the house to the east side of the driveway. Unfortunately with no auger, Piper dug the 5-1/2 foot post hole by hand. My back hurt just watching him. It was pretty cool watching Rusty chain the pole to his bucket and drop it into place.

It was also very exciting to get the front yard leveled out again. The gears in my brain are turning like mad imagining the garden we'll start on next spring. The concrete pillars for the wrap around front porch were dug and poured this week and Piper and I will start framing tomorrow.

We pulled the pine logs off the back hill from the tree we dropped in April and hauled them down to our local sawyer, who will mill them into some wide planks for use in making benches and other random projects.

Rusty will be back again tomorrow and in a few weeks to dig out a root cellar into the hill which will house our homebrew, wines, and canned food. We'll use the clay mined from the dig to add into the plaster mix that will cover the walls of the house.