Greg, we've been here for 33 years - sold our house in Seattle to buy a chunk of raw land, lived in a 24' trailer while building the house (which took several years on the pay as you go basis) and had two kids in the early stages. Our yard evolved by mowing the thistles and nettles surrounding the house and letting the pasture grass take over, then slowly digging out beds and such. No formal grading, so it was a hodge-podge for quite some time. Over the years, we've gone through the gamut of farm animals - pigs, goats, chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, ponies, cows, horses - but have recently torn down most of our fences and are now livestock-free. Our boys made great use of our back woods - tearing around the roads/trails on ponies, horses, off-road skateboards, mini-bikes, motorcycles, and finally trucks. Braffin' was their term for this, not sure if that is local lingo and if others will recognize it. It's been an ever evolving journey.
It's been raining pretty much non-stop for the past week and our creek & pond are fed by run-off from surrounding hills so it goes up and down with the rainfall. Downstream from us is the remains of a beaver pond which is adding to the backup. We have new neighbors now and they seem motivated to tear down the rest of the dam, which will be helpful. We will, of course, offer to help - it's a benefit to everyone upstream to keep the creek flowing.
