dirt is our friend

Here’s a not so funny story with a happy ending: Last fall, we dug up our entire back yard to lay new data and electrical lines to the house. This involved a large backhoe and multiple layers of clothes (because it was freezing out). I did very little other than carry out large thermoses of hot coffee to keep the crew (C and our contractor) from turning into ice statues in the backyard, mid-dig. (More on this first dig later this week.)

After the dig, we had a massive ditch running through our yard. We trucked in a bunch of rough fill and left it for half a year, knowing we would be landscaping the entire yard this spring/summer. The not-so-funny part is that the city decided they didn’t like the weeds growing in our yard, so they fined us. The funny part is that they showed up in the pouring rain and started mowing over massive boulders (rough fill), while C and I stood at the back door shouting at them to stop or they would wreck their mowers. And then there was the ear-piercing sound of rock on metal and the mower hit a big rock. And then the mower stalled. And then we yelled through the pouring rain some more, with some version of “we told you so.” And then they left.

This is what the city didn’t like: weeds…

weeds…

and yes, more weeds.

So, we rented this guy:

But before we could put him to use, we had to move some very large flagstone:

(I helped, but of course, there are no pictures of that part.) Then we realized it might be easier if we let the bulldozer do the work:

I found our dead Christmas tree in the heap, which made me sad. Not because it had died, but because I lack the ability to keep plants alive. I’m working on this problem.

The bulldozer did a lot of things, like pushing our walkway to the front of the yard into a large heap:

helping to remove our back step:

(detached back step)

ruining our driveway:

and wrecking Mr. Musard’s favorite dirt patch. The one he rolls in every morning:

Despite ruining his dirt patch, Mustard seemed willing to be friends:

Then this guy showed up:

and did this 8 times:

and now Mustard has a massive top soil playground to roll in every day of the week.

What joy is his.