We started by weeding the side yard. No weeds are happening in the path we put in last fall, but a lot of weeds were happening between the path and the house, where things need to be planted.
Next we put up our stakes. We have stakes about four feet apart and then rows about five feet apart. This way, as we level we can slope the dirt 1/2″ every row. 
We learned that the sledgehammer is the fastest at getting those stakes in the ground.
We even had time to move some dirt from the mound to a shallow depression in the yard. This meant moving the chunks of concrete into a yellow recycling bin. We will need to discard the concrete chunks. Perhaps by slowly adding them to the garbage.
Excavating the dirt mound also involved digging up the asparagus crowns that have grown in the raised bed since 2009 or so. They were originally planted in Leo’s yard in 2008. It physically hurt to dig up one of those crowns and discard it.
Still, it’s good to get started on the mound going away. I’m looking forward to having a nice backyard to hang out in.
Also! The rhubarb has returned! Both plants. The one on the right side of the yard, closer to the shorter fence, emerged about three weeks after the one on the left next to the taller fence. Guess which side gets the most sun.