Rocks and Dirt

This morning I drove up to Rogers City to pick up the three kits which will allow me to make firewood racks.  These metal pieces are fitted with treated 2x4s to form the racks.  The racks keep the wood off the ground and neatly stacked until needed.  I'll put them together in a few days.

My chore for this afternoon was to start raking the rocks out of my topsoil.  Some of the rocks ended up at the base of the south stairs, where they will help raise the soil level.  I'll cover them with soil to the bottom of the second step.

Rocks help build up the soil level at the south stairs.
I have no shortage of rocks for this task!

We had rain yesterday and last night.  I don't have gutters.  This morning I found that the runoff from the roof had splashed dirt up onto the new parging.  The parging needs to be sealed (I bought concrete sealer at Home Depot yesterday), but I don't want to seal in the dirt!  By the same token, I don't want to hose down the parging and possibly loosen its grip on the wall behind!  I'm not quite sure how to deal with the problem.  Moreover, we have a 70% chance of rain for Thursday.  I think I'll put down plastic sheeting around the house to prevent more dirt from being splashed onto Dave's work.

The newly parged basement wall is now dark with dirt
where roof runoff hit the ground and splashed.

Perhaps when it's entirely dry the dirt can just be swept off.  Time will tell.  Ah, the joys of home ownership! •••