Now We Get to Play in the Dirt.

So now the pipes are laid and the trenches are covered up. The next step is to fill in all the sink holes. So far I have spent around $200 for the pipes, and we did the labor ourselves. Next I had to call and order some dirt...nothing fancy, just plain old dirt. The sandman delivers all kinds of dirt...but not when it's raining. Luckily, my parents came down to help us with the yard, but the first several days of their visit were very wet and rainy so nothing much got finished. Finally the sun came out and dried the dirt enough to be hauled to our front door. Yes...the front, not the back, which is where we needed it. $270 worth of fill dirt was literally dumped in the front yard. Mom and Dad thought they could use a wheelbarrow to carry it around to the back yard. After about 3 trips they decided to go rent a tractor....
I think my dad had a lot of fun with the tractor. He finished taking the dirt to the back yard and filled in all the sink holes but kept riding it around for a few hours after that, continually finding something else to pack down or level out. But, thank God he did, because we would have never filled all the holes back there!!
Once the dirt was transferred and packed down, we leveled it out with rakes and threw a butt load of grass seeds everywhere. Then we laid down some Curlex anti-erosion blankets. I had to order the blankets from a landscaping supply company in Arlington, Tennessee. Mom, Dad and Betty went out there to pick them up in Betty's truck, because they were 8 feet long and wouldn't fit in my Murano. Three Curlex blankets and yard staples cost $200, and we rolled, cut and stapled it ourselves. I was really sore after that!!
Now we just have to water the heck out of it everyday until the grass starts growing through the blanket, and pray to God that this works!

Next Problem...Drainage

Well, now that I have hopefully killed off the moles...WE have to start digging holes. The goal is to dig a trench from the gutter run off to the end of the property, and add a long hose to carry the water from the roof to the flood plane. Whew, that sounds like a lot of work!

Yes, I got a permit from the city, and had them mark the cable lines in the backyard...which turned out to be completely useless, because the place they marked the cable line was three feet away from where it actually was...Like I said, useless.

Anyway, right now we are in the process of digging the trenches and putting in the pipe, as you can see from the pictures. This weekend I dug two trenches all by myself..Joe gets to do the other two. And by gets to, I mean HAS to!

First problem....Moles

So...the first thing we have to take care of is the moles. I have heard of a lot of techniques to take care of moles in your yard. Most of them are humane, like mole traps or pinwheels to throw off their senses. But, I mean business and I don't want the darn things to come back! We used an old trick that I have heard about and read on the internet. Most people say it works well. We rolled up juicy fruit gum and stuck it down in all the mole holes we could find. I know! It sounds crazy to be putting gum in the ground, but it's supposed to attract them and then kill them by getting caught in their intestines. Definitely NOT humane.

Background

We purchased our home in Olive Branch Mississippi in April of 2002. It was a nice property then with a full backyard, big enough for a fence. Beyond the perimeter of our yard, the earth slopped into a drainage ditch and flood plane, which we discovered later, provides the rainwater run off for the entire subdivision. That's a lot of water folks! Within a year, signs of erosion were starting, so to stop this we hired a landscaper to "fix" the problem and stop the erosion. After $2000, a few years and a lot of rain drops later; we now have a dangerous situation known as sinkholes and landslides in our own backyard. That $2000 went down the drain, or slid down the hill, or whatever you want to call it because I could never get the landscaper on the phone again to come and "refix" the problem.

So now what?

Doing some research I found that the builder had to obtain a permit from the city of Olive Branch, stating that the property was suitable, safe and free of potential erosion before a residence could be built there. LIGHTBULB! I'll call the city to address this situation, and I'll get the homeowner's association involved since my yard isn't the only one this is happening to. After plenty of hounding by me and the homeowner's association, we fnally got a visit from the city. Guess what they said..."NOT MY CHAIR..NOT MY PROBLEM"... in so many words. Basically, it was the builders responsibility to make the property suitable and since we now own it...it's our resposibility. AND.. not only is there erosion, but the drainage from our roof is inadequate, and we have moles that expedite the erosion. Now we have three problems to address.

Well, we decided to handle this ourselves, which should be pretty humorous. That is why I decided to start this blog. This way we can log our progress while making people laugh at our ignorance, and hopefully get some helpful tips along the way....Stay tuned!