Minor groundskeeping Monday

The forecast for this week seemed to show that today would be the last day -- in the near future - that would be above freezing, and with all the snow melted (and a light drizzle), I decided to take the opportunity to do some small amount of groundskeeping.

I raked the leaves along the trail that that heads north along the creek. LOTS of leaves were piling up, making dirt over the gravel. This causes a slippery path, and also obscures the width of the path itself. I raked up to where the path turns almost due east; up to where there's a small pipe that goes under the path. I raked out all the leaves from the drainage area "uphill" of the pipe. (I had excavated that opening last spring when all the rain and snowmelt started to run down the pathway, eroding it.) Keeping that pipe open is an important part of maintaining that section of trail. (Too, raking away the leaves will diminish the amount of soil accumulation on that section of path.)

I cut away a tree that had fallen into the creek just upstream of the last remaining weir. Had the tree merely straddled the creek, I wouldn't have bothered, but it was lying in the creek bed, forcing a localized scour, which -- when the inevitable snowmelt and rains were to come -- could cause the start of some bad erosion on that section. I also pulled away a lot of the accumulated leaf litter downstream of the weir's spashpool. They had been crammed into the crevasses between the small boulders and driftwood that had been pushed downstream by past floodings. My hand also found a nail (ouch) in among it all. Hopefully, the amount that I removed will facilitate the water flow so that it won't all be concentrated at one small point. Still, because my hand found the nail, I had to cut the work short. (I hope that tetanus shot was a good one!)

S.Jones also came out to pick up some brick pavers in his truck. He also took a look at the soil buildup on the north side of the cabin. He agreed with my concern that leaving the soil accumulation alone would not be a good long-term strategy, and commented that it would be a small project to have a team come out, remove some small trees, regrade the slope, and install a collector drain to move the water that is in the ground away from the cabin. What's more, his plan seems to minimize the amount of construction (and maintenance of that construction) that would be needed. Which I think would be a good thing for future caretakers.