No moat no more

The moat has been a sore spot since I first laid eyes on this place.

It wasn’t really a moat it was an excavation for a garage and work shed. Apparently, the money ran out and the garage was never completed. The excavation made it difficult to get down to the Slightly Unenchanted Forest and impossible to do any mitigation work.

The grade was sloped with a mound of dirt in the middle. On the north side a large pit was dug and a heap of dead stumps piled inside. The pit made the grade on the side of the road a steep, nasty drop if you missed the turn coming into the driveway.

On July 7, 2011 a contractor who had laid the gas line to the house said he could smooth over the grade and make a rough driveway to make the job of hauling slash and downed trees easier. The price for all the work was $1,300 and though it wasn’t cheap, it was necessary.

Slash is a touchy subject in the mountain area and the man who owned the house before me dropped 287 trees to build the driveway and left the trees and slash to rot on the forest floor. Someone tried to tidy things up and stacked some of the wood, but mostly it’s a haphazard pile of sticks. Sticks and branches are everywhere and are a real fire hazard and need to be removed. The problem has been access to the area and with the grade fixed, it’s easier.

Today it rained hard and puddles are everywhere and the grade is slick as ice. With time it will settle but until this wet weather ends, it’ll be best to let it be for now.

The change makes the property look a lot better. Judge for yourself.