For the second consecutive Friday, we've come home from work to find a disaster in the yard. Last week, you may remember, we had to clear away a huge branch that fell on the driveway. This week, we got to deal with a sinkhole!
That's right. noTTafarm is sinking!
A patch about 6 ft. square adjacent to the northwest stoop just dropped about 8 inches. Apparently, when the dirt work was done following the construction of the new basement, some pockets of air were left behind. When the air pockets finally "burped", the surrounding dirt collapsed.
The back corner looked the worse. We had to clear away Scott's new pine mulch before we could start digging. Plus - of course - it was about a 150 degrees and 110% humidity when we started working on Saturday morning.
The most troublesome thing is these exposed wires. The shifting of the dirt caused the PVC enclosure protecting them to separate. We will need to have an electrician make this repair (Scott thinks these wires supply electricity to the barn.)
Before we moved two Ranger-loads of dirt from our seemingly-never-ending pile of topsoil, Scott perforated the area with the spade. The dirt was so spongy - it was like walking on a pan of brownies that weren't quite done in the middle (delicious maybe, but not award-winning.)
As mentioned, two Rangers-full of dirt were moved. After each load, Scott smoothed the area with a rake then we both hopped up and down on it to pack it down. We may have looked a bit ridiculous but at least we found something that I can help with: using my weight to smoosh down dirt.
We're going to let this sit and dry out for a few days then see if it feels more solid. Fingers crossed that I don't have to shovel and hop again this week!
What tragedy will befall noTTafarm this Friday?
There's only one way to find out . . .
Stay Tuned for Our Next Adventure!
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