June 26, 2019. Western Head, Nova Scotia. The Rock Ditch.

When we bought this place in February 1999, the adjacent lot and old home were not being maintained. As it was a bit higher than our land, rain water would come from their property onto ours and run down our driveway. The gravel road would erode. So we hired Everett to dig a ditch on our side of the land, along the whole length. The ditch was filled with rocks. The ditch ended in the culvert along the main road. The system worked for many years. Hurrah for Ken for thinking of it and Everett to carrying it out. During heavy rains, Everett would come by to check to be sure the water was still coming out to the road, not across our driveway. But Everett died a few years ago. For the past year we have had torrential rains. Our driveway was washed out twice. Ingram Excavating came each time to fill in the drive. But I asked for a real fix. They gave me three options. I selected the most expensive one but the one that could work for the next 20 years. Evidently the sand and silt fill in the spaces in the ditch so the water just comes across the ditch and down our drive. This week they dug up the ditch and removed all the rocks. They dug it deeper, then filled it up with more stones. The ditch is already draining to the main road. Now I await a heavy rain to check our system. No more eroded driveway for me, I hope, thanks to Ingram Excavating. The young man who fixed the ditch is the same person who plows our snow. He has been doing it for several years so he was delighted to finally meet the folks who live in the house. I introduced him to Ken at the statue. He was duly impressed.