Sparky wanted a photo in front of the mud hole in the backyard.

Sparky is not a water dog, but he doesn’t mind mud.  The hole has rocks, clods of dirt and muddy spots when it’s wet, but Sparky doesn’t mind cutting through there to get to the deck.  I’ve counseled him against that practice.

That was part of a buried asphalt driveway.  I will be putting down several yards of topsoil to patch it up.

Like everything, it’s a long story.

When I bought my nice Weber grill, it went in the backyard, outside the patio door.  Rolling the grill on grass eventually broke off one of the wheels.  Weber sent me new wheels for free, which was nice, but a grill needs to be a hard surface.

A deck needed to be built.  As I was digging holes for the support columns, a couple of inches down, I would hit the occasional patio block.  These were the cheap, 16″ x 8″ concrete blocks that cost a $1.50 each. 

The deck holes looked like this:

The holes were filled with concrete, then topped with a deck block.

After the deck was built, the grass around the deck needed to be patched up.  There were probably other buried patio blocks, so those should be excavated and the holes patched.  I used my spud bar to spike the yard.  I found another dozen patio blocks, and something much bigger.

There was a buried asphalt turn-around in the middle of the yard.  It was about 3 inches down, and the grass was growing fine.  Since I’m a moron, I uncovered the asphalt.  It was about the size of a parking space.

One concern was that tree roots would not grow under the asphalt because water would not drain there. 

It occurred to me that the Weber grill could have been placed on the asphalt, with no need to build the deck.  Doesn’t matter.  I like my little deck and don’t like the asphalt, and now, it’s gone.

In the next couple of days, I will order six yards of topsoil to fill the hole and level the yard.