Meanwhile, I hired an excavator (whom I really like) to start using some heavy equipment up behind the house on the back acre. Even my neighbors were surprised to see how much land we have back there. The timing was right. The neighbor above me on 5 acres used a back hoe to go along the metal stakes that mark our property lines last week. That gave me a walking path at the top of our acreage.
Property line
The brush is so dense you would have to use a machete every step of the way. Steve (excavator) works for Legacy Homes here in Sequim and we looked at every possibility for the top acre. We aren't just clearing a little park like area, we are trying to have somewhere to park our extra vehicles!
Our drive way is asphalt, but is on a steep incline. So, this is where I have been parking my truck and van. Yes, we have a garage under the house, but for now it houses a small trailer and my riding mower, and lots of unpacked boxes. The VW is the only vehicle we have that fits in the garage. Wayne has my VW in California.
Plus, the walk up from my truck to the house with groceries, etc. is a killer. I'm sure it is a great "thigh master," but it's starting to get a bit old (or I am) if you know what I mean.
When Steve is finishes excavating above, he will cut another 6 feet here where the truck and van are parked. I can maneuver fairly easily backing both into the tight spaces, but doubtful that some my friends could…hahahaha Plus, I am running 100 feet of extension cord to the house from my RV to keep it plugged in. A rather large pain. You can see it next to the lava rock wall.
Even the land below the van and truck is sloped. You may wonder why we wouldn't excavate down there? Because I don't want to be looking at a parking lot. That's why :0)
So we decided to do something with the acre plus above the house. Wayne already did a little excavating on his own while he was here with an outback brush hog which you can see as the clearing behind the kennels. The excavating is taking place behind the big firs and madronas.
Private drive (Elk Heights Trail) going up towards my three neighbors above us. The houses above us have views of the water. Steve thought we might be able to see the water once he got through the brush. I don't think so. Those are the culverts (40 feet) that will be used in the ditch to catch the winter rains. We have them at the beginning of our driveway, too.
Steve taking a look-see. probably a bigger job than he or I imagined :0( The nice thing about Steve is that he is very ecology minded. We are trying to leave all of the BIG trees. He also trying very hard not to disturb the big trees root systems. I really don't want one of them falling on the house because some are about 100 feet tall. I don't want to blog about having a tree come through the back bedrooms.
After some 9 hours of pushing dirt and piling HUGE burn piles of brush. This is the lower part of the acre. Steve excavated the upper part, also. I have some burn piles ready for October. Should be quite the bonfire. Burn ban until October. We will blaze a trail from the level area where we can park a few more vehicles to the house. The trail will lead right to my upper garden area.
King of the back hoe :0)
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