Living on a hill

The land where I live is not level. Any appearance of levelness has been man-made. This causes 2 problems: 1) mowing the grass is tricky and a chore and 2) there is no flat place to put the playing equipment for Little One. So, we either play on hills or make a flat spot. For our trampoline, we went with the "make a flat spot" option. Because, even with the attached safety net on the trampoline, jumping at an angle would be a bit awkward, not to mention slightly dangerous.

Lucky for me, my neighbor has a BIG, manly toy. Its a John Deere tractor with a front bucket...WOW! He let me borrow it to make my level spot by using brute strength, horsepower, and ingenuity to overcome the clay that had hardened by months of dry, hot weather. Basically, I created a 20 foot square flat place, one tablespoon of dirt at a time, using a bucket that was big enough to hold a small car. But I did not care...I got to play with a BIG John Deere tractor.

The swing set, on the other hand sets in a down sloping area. It has outriggers that make it almost impossible to turn over. I did find out one thing this past summer. Those inflatable pools that are seen almost everywhere and stand about 3 feet high, most definitely need to be on a flat surface. Gravity does still work and pulls all the water downhill to the lowest point.