our ditch

Poor Michael. He's spent his evenings for almost the last week and his afternoons over the weekend trying to conquer our sump pump drainage system. At first he thought it was a simple leak in the pump, but every time he fixed something he found another problem. By last evening he had the entire ditch dug up across the front yard! He discovered some obstructions, but his biggest problem was that the corner turn just below the side walk was several inches lower that the far end of the drain!

He and Rachael dug out and had no success with lowering the far end-it was getting so it was too deep for the drain hole. Finally they decided to replace the pipe, which wasn't really broken up but did have some cracks in it, and raise the low corner section. So they have all the pipe and the corner joint replaced and part of it refilled. Now all they have to do is buy a couple loads of topsoil and cover the still exposed corner, which is now the right level, but sitting almost on top of the ground.

Fortunately there was a low spot in the yard at that point (probably part of the reason it was low there.) Hopefully they will be able to get it finiahed off with no more headaches.

Oh yeah--the cause of all that mess AND the subsequent exposure of the messed up drain was that the drainage pvc under the sidewalk had been filled with concrete along about a 2 foot length when they raised a tilted section by forcing cement between the slab and the substrate. A good idea, but NOT if you drill into the drain pipe. The one good thing-none of this happened in the middle of winter!

landscaping

I'm hurting this morning. I hurt all day yesterday and had trouble sleeping last night. And all because I sat outside with Rachael and Michael while they worked on the bushes in front of th house! It wasn't real cold. I didn't even need a sweater, but my knees did get chilled. So they are telling me about it. Rats.

But that is all beside the point. What is really exciting is that those ugly chopped off straight bushes are all gone. I don't remember if I've mentioned it before, but R&M got a fantastic deal on their house. It was a beautiful house but in need of some TLC that the owner wasn't interested in providing. One of the major problems was the landscaping. There very nearly wasn't any. These bushes ran all the way across the front and there was a scraggly big bush (cut back in this picture) in the middle. There was another big sprawly bush over by the garage door on the left where you can't see.. All the straight line bushes are gone now. There was originally two MAMMOTH junipers in the center of the right hand side that had been cut down before we ever saw it.

After all the bushes were gone there was still two big old stumps to be taken out before we (I use the 'we' loosely. I watch, R & M do!) can put in pretty landscaping. That's what they were doing while I sat out there and watched--digging those stumps out. Fortunately they were long dead and beginning to disintegrate, but it still took a lot of work to get them gone.


Now! We are putting in two 'sky pencil' hollies on either side of the door and birch trees out at the right end. In between will go some hostas and zebra grasses and I don't know what exactly on the left side by the window. Rachael wants to put a Japanese maple there in front of the window, but I say it is gonna get to big and hide the view. But at least if we get the hollies and the birch in it will begin to look like a loved and lived in house...

This is a Japanese Maple.... Gets kinda big to set in front of a window. Don't you think?

The leaves look like this. You can't see them in the big tree picture. The are deep burgandy in the spring, green in the summer and thent his bright red in the fall.

I'll keep you posted on the progress. It's exciting.

eventful couple of days

Oh grief. My little Gabriel came in Sunday night all crippled up. He must have taken a tumble with Maxim and gotten really stove up. He hurt his back a couple years ago jumping up on the cat table to steal their food. Now he has hurt it again, plus a little more.

He insists on believing that he is just as big as Maxim; but 15 pounds up against 85 doesn’t balance out at all! Poor baby, he is really having trouble walking and can’t jump up at all. He is very careful about how he lays and stands. Rachael and Michael have to carry him up the steps and we have to lift him up on the bed. He is so pitiful and very anxious when Maxim comes near or someone walks by too fast and he knows he can’t get out of the way quickly.

I have everybody I know praying for him. The Lord has healed our animals time after time. I have no reason to doubt Him now!

Oh a happier note. The turkey vultures returned to Hoover Reservoir today! I saw a flock of about 8 circling over Smoke Burr this afternoon. The song birds have been back for about a week. Going outside in the early morning is like walking into an orchestra pit during preliminary tune up. Now if only I could woo some of them to my window my life would be complete.

Also, last fall Rachael and I and Kris and I planted bulbs. ( lol I’m being generous with myself. Rachael and Kris planted. I sat on my stool and shared my gardening lore. Heh. Heh. Being crippled up does have its perks!) Anyway, a whole slew of daffodils, tulips, crocuses and iris got shoved in the ground. Today we suddenly have crocuses blooming across the from lawn— little dabs of color in the still winter browned grass. Rach and I got a big charge out of anticipating Michael’s expression when he sees those crocus sprinkled through the grass. He knew we planted the daffodils and tulips, but he didn’t know about naturalizing crocuses. He didn’t see them today. He left before sun-up for work and he won’t be home until ten this evening. So the soonest he’ll see them will be tomorrow afternoon. I can’t wait.

We put those old dried-looking, brown, papery, onion-y looking things in the ground last fall with no guarantee that we would have anything in the spring. They were “ sown in dishonour” and now they are being “raised in glory” I wish you could see those golden and white blossoms in the wintery grass. We see the Lord’s examples of His resurrection all around us.