Streambed

After heavy rains, water pooled at the bottom of the front stoop, taking days to drain away.  I was unconcerned about the footwear of our visitors, as few people walk to our front porch. But water is the great destroyer of houses.  Eventually, that water would seep under the house and cause problems.

Over the winter, I dug a small rain garden on the far end of the house.  It took months because the soil was clay and compacted.  I dug down a foot until I hit sand. 

In the spring, Morgan dug a streambed from the stoop to the rain garden to channel the water after a downpour.  He positioned it behind the hellebores, parallel to the porch.

 



He wore his heavy boots and worked up a sweat.

Julia supervised.

Morgan lined the streambed with landscape fabric, while I collected rocks from around the yard.  I found some perfect specimens in the rock wall lining the driveway. 

It took many weeks of rock collecting before I completed filling the streambed.

Then I rebuilt the rock wall along the driveway with flat stones stacked in a pile on the parking pad.

The streambed works perfectly.  And it is beautiful.  I could have dug the channel myself, but it would have taken many weekends.  Morgan completed the job in an afternoon.

I think of Morgan whenever I see the streambed.  That is the best part.