in the trenches,..

last week i was up against the wall,…

a hairy position, since i have no desire to knock down the barn.

now i’m in the trenches

and things are looking up,.(when not shoveling)

the ground here is stony sand with a heavy dose of feldspar clay, it acts like concrete (and digs like it), the ground retains water but water has it’s own rules, because the barn was built in the slope of a hill it puts the crawlspace below ground level and the water collects in the well made by the barns foundation, so because the soil holds water so well it keeps the crawl space wet and that rots the floors and sills (which i just replaced)

what the trenches will do once finished (technically “french drains”) is give the water an out, being lower than the crawlspace, it will let the building remain dry,..
not much fun, the earth dug hard even with the backhoe and i still have to grade the slope of the trench by hand, but i got a shovel,..and a pick,.. and i definitely sleep well after a day of that,.