Happy Easter! I hope you are enjoying general conference!

Summary: We got a LOT done this weekend! Very exciting, we did tear up a ton of the property with the excavator. Really sad to take out trees, but we need a driveway 🙂 

1. We were able to divert the smaller drainage to the high side of the main drainage. 

2. We placed all 120 feet of drainage culverts! Very excited to have that our of the way

3. We got the excavator up to the top of the ridge! I did not finish the “bridge” over the drainage ditch. But got really close!  Just need to get a lot of dirt down from the ridge.

Property Conditions: Things are definitely drying it out!  Still a few muddy spots but it was much easier to get around without getting muddy.
Next week’s plan:  I am traveling for work Wed-Friday next week. So we will probably only be out there Saturday.  Plan is to get dirt down from the top of the ridge! 

1. Drainage Ditch Diversion- Thursday Night: Not a lot to say here. It was a small quick job. I did this Thursday after work as I “remembered” how to drive an excavator (from my 12 hours of operating experience from before winter).  The only scary part was getting the excavator across the property from the north side to the south side.  I ended up cutting a little road to get across. I didn’t want to side hill it on wet clay.  Other than that it was a piece of cake

2. Placing 120 feet of drainage culverts-Friday: I am very happy about how this went! I really didn’t know what to expect or really how to proceed. As I was falling asleep Thursday night (in the back of the Yukon) it finally occurred to me that I’d be way better off getting the excavator down in the ditch. (For some reason I had kind of pictured doing it from up on the bank)  After a cold night on an air mattress that didn’t hold air, I got started right away as the sun was coming up Friday morning. It only took 40 mins or so to get the excavator down into the ditch. And probably only 2 hours to tear up the ditch! I was blown away how fast that excavator made things happen. It was a little hard to spin the excavator around as sometimes I was right against the bank. I only almost died once down in the ditch. I was putting a bucket load of dirt up on the bank above me and a decently sized rock fell out of the bucket and rolled down the edge of the ditch towards me. Luckily it hit the frame holding the front window in and bounced off. I now have a new dent on the machine 🙂 .  Rolling the culverts across the property by myself to where the excavator could pick it up was a bit of a workout. And getting in and out of the excavator with clay burdened boots was exhausting!  Getting the culverts into the ditch and connected wasn’t too terrible. The excavator was big enough to straddle the culverts and drive over the top of them. By the end of the day I had them all placed and covered enough to the point I was able to drive the excavator over the top of them and get out of the ditch!  So happy to be done with that project!

3. Getting the excavator onto the ridge-Saturday: I didn’t have a place to cross from one side to the next. So Saturday morning (Karianne brought me a new air-matress so it was a better night, phew!) I got back down in the ditch and drove to the far end and I dug a ramp out on the other side. It wasn’t very steep, but the ground over there was still frozen. So my tracks weren’t working and I couldn’t climb very well. I ended up having to pull myself up the slope with the bucket.  Once I was in place on the other side I started up the ridge! Pictures don’t do it justice. It was actually quite steep. There was a time or two on the slope that I swung the bucket around with a load of dirt and the excavator’s weight shifted cause apparently the tracks weren’t completely level. A VERY terrifying feeling. It took a little longer than I was hoping but I finally got to the top!  I cleared enough of the trees to see the view. It was awesome! The rest of the day I pushed a few loads of dirt down the mountain from the top to fill in the ditch. Didn’t quick have enough time to make a passable road just yet but we are close!