My Front Yard on Nature Friday

Published on by Xena, Lucy and Chia

Thanks to Rosy and Sunny of The LLB Life for hosting Nature Friday!

We have a mess.

We’ve had a mess for almost 3 months.

It rained so much for a whole month, the septic repair guy couldn’t do anything about it. And he was booked up, everyone waiting the same as me.

It kept getting worse.

The yard turned into a swamp. The road in front of our house was continually wet. The grass couldn’t be mowed. Water was even running out of the small spaces between the driveway cement plates. Meantime, the grass just kept growing, taller and taller.

I was embarrassed. We don’t live in a “rich” neighborhood, but everyone except for the guy down the street who lost his wife a few years ago, keeps their yards nice, plants flowers, etc.

Then we got our every other month water bill. It had jumped from under $30 to over $200.

We found out that the water line had broken first, which overwhelmed the septic line, and then it broke, too.

The septic repair people came out and fixed the water line. Then they had to go back to their customers who were still ahead of me on their schedule. At least the swamp dried up.

Above, grass over a foot tall, and bare dirt where digging was done.

Below, a quick panorama of our front yard.

On top of that, our neighbor boys, who cut our grass, were gone on a family vacation for 2 1/2 weeks. So the dog lot didn’t get cut either. Do you know what loves to live in tall grass? Yep, fleas. The pups all started getting fleas. I thought the essential oil doo dads on their collars would repel the fleas. Then I checked the doo dads and saw they were all dried up. So I ordered more, and they came in under a week. I haven’t seen any fleas on them since that.

I kept trying to get someone out here to cut all the grass. Finally a guy came out while I was at work. He looked around and quoted $150. Yikes! But I had to get it all cut. See previous mention of embarressment. He said he could get his crew out here the next day. I asked, if, in the meantime, he could just cut the dog lot. (See previous comment about fleas.) He said he didn’t have a mower with him, but could use the weedwacker. So he did. Then I was able to put down diatomaceous earth in the lot when I got home. And I never saw or heard from him again — even though he didn’t get paid.

A week later the boys came home and mowed the dog lot. However, they didn’t have the equiment to mow the front jungle. It still looks like the picture.

Additionally, Xena is allergic to flea bites. At one point her poor tummy was getting infected from her chewing on it, so on goes the Cone of Honor…yes, that’s what we call it around here. Her tummy’s ok now, but she is still wearing the cone.

It rained hard today, so that would have “inactivated” the diatomaceous earth. Now I’m waiting for my order of “Food Grade” Diatomaceous Earth to show up from Amazon. None of the stores around here carry the Food Grade. With that, I won’t have to stand out in the yard with them to be sure none of them start eating grass – which they have a tendancy to do. *sigh*

Now hubby is saying to not worry about the grass in the front yard. After it’s all fixed, we’ll have to have the whole thing landscaped…dirt levelled, grass seed planted, I don’t know what else.

2026 has been a year to remember–or forget!

Happy Nature Friday!

30 thoughts on “My Front Yard on Nature Friday”

  1. Java Bean: “Ayyy, a broken water line is no good! Our main line to the street broke a few years ago and the front yard got all soggy wet! It cost quite a bit to get that fixed, but at least the septic tank wasn’t affected …”
    Lulu: “Xena, we wanted to let you know, we got a suspicious-looking email that seems to have come from your Mom’s Gmail account! It says it’s a Punchbowl invitation but the link doesn’t go to Punchbowl, it goes to a domain ‘check.caixg.vu’, which doesn’t seem to actually be Punchbowl. They seem to be fishing for Gmail credentials. Just in case your Mom needs to check and make sure somebody hasn’t gotten into her Gmail or something!”

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  2. Yes, to the question about using diatomaceous earth on the dogs, but only food grade in case they lick it.
    We have learned that here in the South, if folks don’t want to do business with you, they just don’t respond. And, in this case, don’t come back! It used to drive us crazy, but we expect it now.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Yikes, sorry you are going through all that trouble and then added to it all the flea miseries. just remember, one day you’ll look back on these days and grin, because you all survived despite the mess and expense. We do that here too…our ancient house, (1907), is such a disaster area at times…

    That is a great idea about the D-earth…can you put that on the dogs’ fur too? Glad you have your dog-lot back.

    PS: What kind of a business dude was that mower guy who didn’t even have the politeness to come back, or to let you know he couldn’t. Sheesh. Maybe it’s a good thing, if that’s how he operates, LOL!

    Liked by 1 person

  7. I talk to my sis Lucy a lot. Sometimes I tell her to leave Fritz alone (she doesn’t like him) and sometimes I just talk about other stuff. And I do cuddle up to her on the couch Well, I gotta go now. Fritz is here and he said he’ll play with me!! XOXOX Chia
    Hi Miss BellaDharma. I’d like to visit, but Fritz is here and

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  8. No worries my friends OMDs our grass was only mowed 2 times since late May…

    no rain for nearly 1 1/2 months wasn’t growing but OMDs did it turn brown

    Our lawn guru Seth said it is not good to mow when so dry so your lovely lush green is a good sight

    Hugs cecilia

    Liked by 1 person

  9. oh my, your 26 is starting to look like our 25, so far our 26 is better than 25. we have tons of yards here that look like yours, we are so dry, the weeds and grass are let grow unless home has sprinklers from a well. there is nothing to be done so let God handle it and only worry about the ones you can change.. I am trying to live by that, got it from my 365 Promises Book. fleas are awful, so are ticks.

    hope things straighten out soon and get back to YOUR normal, whatever that might be… so far today we are in normal mode

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  10. OMC Miss Amy…that ISS a ginormuss MESS!!! This iss NOT the way to spend Spring an Summer fore sure. BellaSita gasped over the inncrease of yore water bill. Wee REELLY hope efurrything will bee fixed an you can start afresh (no pun inntended). Xena you ARE a Warrior weain THE Cone. Xena an Chia pleese take care of yore Sistur OKay??

    ***paw kissess*** BellaDharma an (((hugss))) BellaSita Mum.

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  16. Well, him not showing up saved us $150 and the dog lot got cut, so maybe it wasn;t so bad after all. My hubbie said most of that area in the front is going to be dug up, anyhow.

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  27. YIKES! Now that is a saga that I am SURE you hope NEVER REPEATS ITSELF! Everything that could go wrong did……let’s hope you got a whole year (or more) worth of bad stuff DONE and now it will be smooth sailing (or mowing!).

    Hugs, Pam and Teddy

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  29. Fleas you say? Yes, we here can sympathize about flea infestations. As to your yard, my suggestion is simply go out and buy a really junked out old Chevy and some cinder blocks. Put the car up on blocks in your front yard and the neighbors won’t even notice the lack of grass.

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