Altering the landscape

You may have noticed the backhoe in the background of the last entry. Often big machinery is left at the last job until it's called for at another job. At least that's the case in rural areas - from my years living in the Big City, property owners there would never have stood for such behavior. A few years ago when Gorgeous Gorge was cleaned out, the backhoe used then sat behind my house for weeks. A couple of times I've seen county road maintenance machinery parked overnight in my field just over the hill. Neighbor Doug allowed the flatbeds used to bring the machinery left during the day in his field. This time having the backhoe stored on site for a couple of days worked to my benefit. The area where the rain gutter ended allowed water to puddle near the building. With a delicate scratch from the backhoe tines the operator was able to adjust the lay of the land so the runoff water will end up in the tall grass of the field.