On the side, I decided to improve it a little, get rid of another dip as well as fix the washout.
I also redid the top of the septic tank. This isn't packed down (I don't want to drive my tractor all over my septic tank) but at least the tank cover is underground again.
It is also decision time. I got to thinking, and I was thinking if I put a retaining wall in over here, I might actually have enough material to raise the side at least a few inches. I went to Home Depot and looked at PT 6x6, but I am not sure it would be cheaper to do that then to just get another load of cheaper fill (whether it is gravel or whatever, it wouldn't matter as long as the top layer is dirt). An 8 footer is $30, and I would need a lot of them.
Right now I am leaning towards just getting more fill, but I need to decide soon, since it will make a difference for what I do with the rest of the dirt.
While I was mulling that over, I went and raked the rest of the gravel out of what used to be yard.
I used a little cheap rake that I picked up last time I was Tractor Supply. It doesn't tear everything up like a bo rake does. We shall see how long it lasts.
Sunday I went and did my normal weed killing. My fears about the stalks coming back to life seems to be a little overblown. A lot of the stalks are green again, but none of them sprouted new leaves or anything.
One alternative to using the dirt in the dip in the back is to use it up here after I dig up the knotweed. I intended to eventually get this area to be lawn all the way down to the stream. If I want to do this I should start working on it very soon, time is running low for this year. I wouldn't be using any of the gravel for this either, so I could still dump that in the back.
Something that I observed when I was doing the weed killing: down by the road I used a different method of genocide, a method that I believe it was Matt sent me from some agriculture school or something. Basically this method is let it grow to full size, hit it with a weed whacker and cut it all down in around end of June or early July, and then let it grow for a few weeks before spraying it weekly. The idea is that once the plant is matured, cutting it down will stress out the root system, the re-growing stalks will use the built up energy in the root system, and then the subsequent spraying will kill those and ideally the root cell. It is hard to argue with the results, this hasn't been sprayed in a few weeks now, and while there are a few not-dead stalks in the carnage zone, they are severely stunted and barely growing if at all. It uses a lot less chemicals too which are very expensive. I have spent several hundred dollars on vegetation killer this year.
I didn't really feel like doing much else on Sunday, but I didn't want to go inside, so I did my chores and finally convinced myself to pick up some trash. I started with the bag of beer cans down by the stream. I pulled most of the cans out and re-bagged them so I can take them to the recycling center on my next trip.
I also lit the burn barrel after dinner once it started to get dark.
That was a mistake apparently. Normally when I light it is burned down to coals in a few hours. That wasn't the case this time. I presume that there is too much ash in the bottom, so it had trouble breathing, and that was coupled with the fact that almost everything in it this time was the crappy half rotted MDF wood, which burned poorly at best. The piece of T1-11 burned really good, but it was the only part that did. Since the T1-11 is what I used to space the boards out so that air and fire could get between them, I had to tend it frequently to keep them spaced apart. On more than one occasion I had to put some branches and stuff in it just to keep it alive. I also ran out of charcoal lighter fluid (what I typically use to light it and give it a helping hand when the fire isn't doing well) which didn't help matters either.
I ended up staying up until 2AM, despite lighting it at 7PM. It did burn all the way through, so I won't have to do a second burn of it just to get it all burned up. It was still smoking and smoldering a bit when I went to work this morning, but there was virtually nothing left. It still looked like this at midnight.
I had some company while I was watching the fire, some bats came out to enjoy the bugs. I saw four or five of them. Apparently fire doesn't scare them away. The black speck in the middle is a bat. My phone struggled with the low light though.
No progress on the checklist. This is going to be a busy week for me, I am headed out to Aunt and Uncle's on Thursday, and visiting Krass for a housewarming party this coming weekend, and then when I get back I am headed up to northern NH for a week with some coworkers. So it might be a while before I post again. My new truck should be arriving the week I am gone too.
Summer projects:
Prep truck for trade in- Determine house plans (modular vs mobile vs stick)
- Get my power service upgraded
- Shed floor
- Shed doors
- Concrete shed supports
- Anti-mouse the shed (seal it, maybe spray with pepper spray or something)
- Level the yard.
- Install windows in the shed.
Fix/sell the utility trailer.Driveway round 5- Determine the future method of travel. Build prototype?
- Build a bridge over the creek
- Investigate retaining wall construction.
- Clear walking trails on lot.
- Eliminate pile of crap in the back yard.
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