The Great Wall
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When the builder got the hole done for the basement and started digging out the foundation we realized that we had underestimated the slope and how much room we would need to back out of the garage. We had measured out to the three big pines we had left at the edge of our clearing and knew they could stay, but we would have to raise the ground level about five feet all the way over to them.
So, quick, build a retaining wall. A temporary structure, built too close to the trees to put in a permanent block wall between.
Then two of the trees got struck by lightening and all three got the pine beetles. So the best pictures we have of the wall is from the day the pros came to take them down. They took the three pines, this double holly and a water oak.
We got a couple of good piles of mulch from them, though.
We decided that rather than build another, more permanent wall we would bury the existing wall and slope the ground down to the new tree line. That part of the project is on The Great Wall, Part 2