Ahhhh... last night I had driven back home from Sydney immediately after the concert to be able to be back home with my family for a least a whole day! So, when the kids had gone to school.. my wife and I (and her father) ended up spending a long morning and part of the afternoon in our garden, tidying up everything, getting some mulch down, and doing some little rock wall building. I did have a bunch of administrative work to do, but in the end, I figured that I could always do that sort of thing from a hotel room instead... but to spend a day just gardening and working in the yard with each other was time well spent!

Of course, given my wife's current back problems... there were only a limited amount of things that she could do... but still, it was an enjoyable day together... slowly working on making the place ours, a project that will likely be a lifetime's work!

So... my father in law had already spend the days before clearing and transporting the earth from the piles at the back to the front areas. That had made the ground a bit more level in the places where the earth had subsided where the trenches had been laid... so, quite a lot of stuff was moved, and we are now down to half the amount of earth in the back that will need to be still moved around.

Meanwhile, there were still areas where I had to rebuild the rock wall that was holding the earth back and away from the house. I need to make a start on this side, as the rain is starting to move the soil from the top level down to the lower part... it isn't drastic yet, but I will need to get on it before it collapses. As you can see, I have started with the larger rocks on the right hand side of the photo... I will also probably have to start angling the earth that rests behind the rocks so that the angle of the wall will be stronger than a straight up/down.

This bit will definitely need a bit more angling, and then I will have to still dig a trench further around to make it drain the lower lying areas of the path sot hat it doesn't turn into a muddy patch every time it rains! But this isn't a critical priority, the ground gets wet, but it doesn't get under the house... and the trench digging will be pretty hard work... plus, I will need to order in a load of gravel as well!

Meanwhile, I got myself a new (second-hand) toy... a shredder/mulcher. Basically, you feed in branches and sticks, and you get out shredded woodchips! It isn't an industrial one, so it will only take branches that around 4 centimetres thick... but it does mean that I have to make far fewer trips to the green waste tip, and there is something quite satifying about turning huge long branch debris into woodchips!

Heh heh.... crazily satisfying!

Meanwhile, laying down mulch in the front part of the block... We needed to have some sort of border to stop everything just washing away. We had pulled up a path down the back when the drainage was being built, so there are a huge pile of pavers back there. My wife doesn't want to reconstruct the same path, and there seems to be talk of building a deck out the back instead. So, we have a pile of pavers with no purpose... and so I suggested using them as the bordering. So, they will form a temporary bordering for the mulching, but it will be eventually be replaced by a more permanent solution. Honestly, I was a little bit surprised that one of my suggestions was accepted!

Whilst moving the pavers from the back to the front... I saw a slug was on the side of one of them. Given that I hadn't had enough sleep last night due to the driving and late home arrival (my brain isn't ticking over quite properly...), I thought it would be a great idea to just squish it between two pavers. It exploded... into my face (thankfully I wear glasses...), and bits went into my mouth... bleah, bleah, bleah... I'm an idiot sometimes...

So, we have managed to make a bit of a dent in the giant mulch and woodchip pile that was the remains of the trees and branches that were taken down several months ago... a lot more to go, but then we also have a lot of area on our block to cover!

... and the front corner is starting to take shape! But like I said... there is still a LOT of area to cover!

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