I can’t remember the date we had our front yard torn up for our sewer line replacement (I suppose I could check this blog) but frankly, at this point it sure feels like forever. The good news is that the piles of dirt are gone; the bad news is that (from what I’m told) there’s still some settling to be done, and the landscaper guy who’s going to replace the front watering system that was torn to smithereens (for a cool $2,400) told me to buy a sprinkler and water all the dirt areas twice a week to encourage settling. And to wait a month.

I’m sure glad none of my neighbors saw me setting that damned sprinkler up. I got soaked just trying to get it just so, and the dirt becomes clay-like as soon as it gets wet which caked my good sneakers in mud. I don’t know about you, but I hate getting blasted in the kisser with a stream of water (twice!), but there’s really no good way to get a sprinkler working the way you want it and covering the area you need. Or maybe there is and I just haven’t heard of it.

As you can see, the area still looks like a construction site, and the dirt in the driveway has led to the garage, which in turn has found its way inside the house. I’m sick of dirt. If I had my way, I’d pave the whole damned thing over with asphalt and see how the HOA would like that! Oh, and the guy who was going to do my driveway cement work for $200 less than the $700 the landscaper quoted won’t return my calls, so I guess that’s gone the way of the kiwi. Which is OK – when you’re in for the better part of ten Gs what’s two hundred dollars between friends as long as the work gets done right and reliably?

I keep telling myself that in three months this will all be like a dream – you won’t even be able to tell anything happened out front; and in six months the 0% interest credit card debt will (hopefully!) be a thing of the past, but right now all I can’t see the end game. It eludes me, much like the truth eludes Hillary Clinton. But don’t get me started on that.

Anyways, it’s not as if me and the landscaping company are going to be strangers – next Tuesday they’re coming to rip the antiquated (and leaking) watering system in the back yard and upgrade it with new piping and emitters. Another $1,800 on that 0% credit card, but when you’ve gotten in as deep as we have at this point it’s just money. And unlike with the front it’s not going to be a huge mess – I’ve seen these guys work before when they laid down our landscaping lights; by the time the work was done you would have never known the place was ripped up.

More pics to follow, I’m sure.