Your trench and gravel sounds right but mine sat for months until I dug a dry well at the low corner and tied the gutter downspouts into it, which is what finally kept the water out. That bass amp though, let it dry a full week before you plug anything in.

Story pole saved you but my dumb self would still forget which mark is which.

The "sunset has dirt in it" thing is gonna live in my head now. Nobody ever talks about how color fear is really a control thing, like if you pick the exact right hex code nothing can go wrong. But the messy version is what people actually feel when they look at it.