With rain expected in the forecast, the goal by the end of today was to move enough dirt so that Rick would be able to dig a trench where the french drain is going to be installed. We want to have a place for any excess water to run in the event that we get a fair amount of rain over the next few days.

One good thing was that Rick was able to keep in tact the cables that he found as he moved through the dirt. There ended up being two that are actually live cables. He also found a couple cables that were already cut and didn't lead to anything. So the fact that the live cables are still in tact and have plenty of slack in them is a good thing. This will allow him to bury the cables in the french drain. He did accidentally bust a PVC pipe that may or may not be serving as an active drain. He and his son will hand dig around that tomorrow. It was full of gravel so we aren't sure yet if it's a good working drain.

He also removed the big fir tree that was located on the far right-hand side of the bank. I meant to take photos as he was pulling it out, but at the time he pulled it out, I didn't know he was doing so and therefore only got pictures after the fact. He did say that he had to wiggle it a bit and at one point, the fence was moving. But he did manage to yank on it in a direction that wasn't disrupting the fence and got it out.

I also took some photos of the pups since we had sunshine. It was a beautiful day here and the sun really accentuated the blues and greens.

Rick was able to get this far with the digging before having to leave to dump the dirt.

Here is a closer view.

Note the fir tree on the far right. This is the tree that Rick removed.

He's back for his third round of filling up his dump truck.

Moving dirt gently so as not to break the cables.

The cables are finally out of the dirt and still intact. Yeah!

Jake, checking things out and enjoying the sunshine.

Our little pumpkin Lexee

Jake is yawning.

Squinting from the sun.

Sniffing the scents that are blowing in the wind....

The fir tree is now removed.

Here's the fir tree. It smelled like Christmas!!!!

Steve and Rick discussing the cable situation.

Aren't these pups just precious?

Moving the tree out of the way. Steve and I will use it for firewood.

Here Rick is leveling the base.

This is the best example I can come up with for a side-by-side comparison of the bank before and after the fir tree was removed.

Rick is back at it after returning from dumping a load of dirt. He is now finishing up for the night by making sure we have a trench for a place for water to run in the event we get rain.