Oscar did the requested excavations at the cabin site last week.
This shows the 24' x 24' site for our new barn/storage shed/workshop/garage (truly, a multi-purpose building). The building is 20' wide and 14' deep, and will sit about 6' back in this space. This was excavated slightly above the driveway grade. David, who took these photos for us, is standing on the driveway. This is looking Southeast. I'll need to drag the downed trees away and clean up the boundary some, but that is a chore for another day.
If you turn 180° to look across the driveway to the Northwest, you can see where Oscar put all the dirt he took out of the barn site.
It was used to create some additional space for parking and turn-arounds.
The ground here is mostly decomposed granite. That is a perfect base because it is like rough gravel. It packs into a very hard surface that does not get very muddy when wet.
Turning just a bit more to the North, here is a shot down the driveway to the cabin.
There is a spot, just to the right of this picture where we had some ground removed to create a larger flat spot next to an existing shed. We'll store fire wood there. I'll build a cover in that area and we will be able to store about 4 cords of wood close to the cabin door and in a sheltered spot. If you walk toward the cabin, you see the final excavation.
This spot already existed as a parking spot, but the width has been doubled. That small split rail fence is there to keep anyone from driving on top of the septic tank. And, the parking slot was just about as wide as the fence. This is where we plan to put our travel trailer--not only for parking/storing it, but also to serve as a guest bedroom when you come to visit. We'll back into this space, keeping the left side of the trailer to the cabin-side of this space (right side in the photo). That way, the door will open toward the meadow.
All this is just another step in the process of preparing the cabin for year-around living. Grass should start to fill in soon to further, and it will look great in a few months.