Took advantage of the slight warm up in weather to get more brush cleared. This time, instead of focusing on clearing a line of sight to the rear of the property, I wanted to clear an area near the house, to allow better access to the retention pond. Had a bit of an added bonus after doing this as well.
Last winter, when I replaced the exterior electrical outlets on the shed. I noticed there was some conduit exiting the bottom of the box going into the ground, and I had zero clue where it went... Until now. The drain pipe that feeds into the pond, comes out right in the corner closest to the house, and the previous owner ran conduit to that location and placed an outlet there. It had just gotten hidden behind about 20 feet of brush and vines. I forgot to take a before pic, but the brush extended to the short plastic tote with the green lid.
The concrete block that you see is the bulkhead for the storm water pipe. So in addition to the water that comes out there, so does all the trash that ends up on the street, that washes into the drains. I have a pool net that I use to clean up whatever I can reach. I've considered trying to make some kind of net to catch stuff, but that's more work than my mod bug wants to chew on.
From another angle, the water reaches to the green areas. At this point I've got plenty of real estate to drop a lake filter into, if I was going to start up my irrigation system project again. With this outlet being here (after replacing the outlet and putting a weatherproof box in) it would make it much easier to put the pond pump here, instead of up by the shed. The lower lift height would be easier on the pump for sure, and give me a little more reach into the back yard.
I'll have to do a better job of keeping up with the brush and vines, not letting them get so out of hand moving forward. But if I do ever need to commit any appreciable amount of time to clearing this crap out, it will definitely be done in the winter. With the bugs in the summer, I don't think I'd survive in there.
