Great News! I lost a tooth today!

Well, technically I lost a crown. But, it meant i had to leave work early to deal with it, so I got in a few more hours of digging. Here is what the side looks like now. I'm getting closer, but still have a day or two of digging.

It rained today, which was nice because it kept me cool. Which, leads me to my reasons to dig in the rain:
1) It keeps you cool.

and, my reasons NOT to dig in the rain:
1) wet dirt=heavy dirt
2) wet dirt=slippery dirt
3) hard on your grass
4) wet mud sticks in and around shoes

I'm deciding now whether or not to take some of the best advice I've gotten so far, which was to leave the french drain that runs along the house alone. The problem is mainly, I don't think it's something that I'm able to leave well enough alone.

Another design decision I'm considering is whether or not to take the walkway all the way up to the house. From a practical perspective, we could use all the width we can get. Aesthetically though, I think it may look better leaving some space. Maybe we can just put a planter there to break it up.

I also found out today that people DO want dirt. That is, they say they want it - we'll see if they get it. I've had five people (in a day) contact me about picking some up. I was getting so many questions about it that I started to wonder if I should want to keep it. (don't worry Eileen, it's still on the open market).

Tomorrow I am hoping to dig out up to the driveway, and finish the pack walkway. I still haven't ordered any of the materials. They said at the quarry everything could be delivered in a few days. If I can finish digging this week, and order the materials so that they get here this weekend. I think there's a chance I can finish up on Sunday....a chance.

So, I thought I keep some information together from my walkway/retaining wall project. This is as good of a place as any. Plus it's a good way to introduce my wife (currently out of town) (who I love very much) to the project!

First, the project is to dig out a walkway and put together a retaining wall.

I went to the quarry by my place (who knew) and looked around for a while. But, I decided a natural stone wall was too much work for a newbie, so I decided to get a system. This place was a Nicolock dealer so after hours going through their catalog, I found something I liked. For some reason, finding reviews on retaining wall systems seems to be about the only review not littering the Internet.

Anyway, I decided on the Tuscany Wall (adobe blend) for the wall and the Colonial Cobble Blend (oyster). For the walk, my goal was to find something clean, but a little rustic - not too "new" looking. Hypothetically, it should look like this.

I decided first on the herringbone paver pattern, then the herringbone 45 deg, which I liked but seemed like a ton of cutting, then finally ended up on the I pattern.



After measuring and re-measuring, I just decided to start digging and then order everything when I had a clearer idea. Here is the area




This is our main side entrance and the gravel walkway is too narrow and....gravel. Our property line runs along the mulched area (about where the white board is). I'm going to put a retaining wall there and add a nice walkway. Notice that the gravel is all the way up to the siding; it it currently graded way too high.

Let the digging begin! I started Saturday and dug for about five hours. when I was done, here's what it looked like. I was pretty happy with the progress. I got out some of the walkway and took a good start cutting the hill for the retaining wall.



I also had/have some dirt to contend with. (honey, it will be gone in a week..or two..I promise)



I figured I'd have a good chance to finish digging on Sunday. I dug for 6 1/2 hours. I also did battle with a buried stump that I uncovered and plenty of roots.






Notice that there is about a foot of dirt moved from below the siding. According to the 1980 edition of Architectural Graphics Standards, clay that is damp and plastic (moldable) weighs 110 lbs/sq. ft. while packed earthen mud weighs 115 and wet sand and gravel weighs 120 lbs/sq. ft.

Today I moved about 100 cubic feet of dirt. 27 cubic feet (a cubic yard) weighs about a ton, so that's a little over 3 1/2 tons of dirt. A good day's work that I'd feel even better about if I didnt still have about another 6 hours of digging left.

ps. anyone want some free dirt??