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!
Xena Schnauzer Warrior Princess with Lucy and Chia 