Picked the best morning ever for yad wurk.

I trimmed those trees in the front yard up a good 4+ feet. You can see our house again from the street. Trimmed the back bushes and the rabbit's wild area (left her plenty of shade). Also trimmed the shrubs in the back yard.

I had two helpers who did cleanup duty, putting all the limbs on a tarp and hauling it down to the creek.

Next project is to build steps down to the creek, clean out that area, and build an elevated deck down there for camping, cooking, etc. The creek is prone to flood, but in 12 years (including 2015) it never went more than 2-3 feet over the banks. If it goes 38-42 feet above the banks, then we will have a flooding issue with out house. Aside from the Lake Murray ### collapsing, that won't be an issue.

Ideally deck would be half covered, half open, with electricity, and grills, a TV. and a bigazz fan.

Tiggity®

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Yeah, it would be just one big deck. I'd like to have it big enough to have

May 24, 2025, 1:36 PM

half covered, maybe screened in with fans and the TV, and the other half in the open. HOA would be the first hurdle. Second would be keeping people from stealing stuff because down in the woods kids take stuff. Can't run a fence all the way to the creek. I'd have to have cameras down there, mainly to protect the grills and TV. The back third or so of our lot is behind the backyard fence. Some people have traditional fences that transition into open fences with dog wire going all the way to the creek. I like keeping the area totally wild. It is 100% in the shade in the summer and 10 degrees cooler by the creek, and no one will ever build on the other side of the creek.

The entire deck would need to be a good 3-4 feet elevated though just to handle the flooding that happens down there. The ground is totally flat, and we have a spot already where we can pitch a large tent and camp with a fire pit.

Maybe $80K and some time and I could make that place awesome.

It would be treated wood, and probably composite decking. All brown earth colors, and maybe a brown or dark green metal roof, kind of a natural park building look. Roof would need to be metal because of all the leaves that fall and limbs. Have to have an electrician run power down there too. heck, probably $100K now. Oh well.