A Squirrel in the Abyss

 We've put off a major home improvement project for more years than I want to admit to, but we took the plunge finally. It's super sexy. A new sewer pipe.

Now, I know you're green with envy. I mean, who doesn't want a new sewer pipe? 

We've had a backhoe in our front yard for a week now. If it hadn't been so cold and if it doesn't get pitch black by 6 pm., I'm sure the Captain would have snuck in to give it a whirl. As far as I know, he hasn't.

Our house was built circa 1950 and all of its parts were original when we moved in 25 years ago. That means the massive Oak has had about 70 years to infiltrate all the pipes skittering underneath our yard. There used to a be a Sweet Gum contributing to the damage, and its root system probably got back at us for murdering it by continuing to grow into the pipe.

We've replaced the roof, switched out the windows, replaced the driveway, finished half of the basement and added a bathroom and a shed. 

The Captain has resisted my suggestion for a patio, hot tub and swimming pool. 

Why not just move, you ask? 

Because I'm very lazy. And we love our neighbors and the neighborhood. And I probably am too lazy to properly take care of a pool. 

The sewer thing, we knew would be a big budget issue and a big deal, which is why it's taken us so long to pull the trigger. We have occasionally had water in our basement due largely to tiny foundational cracks. But last year, for the first time, we had more than water slip in, and that was not OK.

Courtesy of the backhoe, we have a huge, yawning trench in the yard. The project had a hiccup, which delayed the crew from filling it in, so we have cautionary tape stretching from the porch to our light pole - which accidentally got decapitated during the dig. 

 And now, worse than the day when I thought I didn't have water and had, um, things I had to take care of: a squirrel is down in the abyss. It must be 12 feet to the bottom. I'm hoping if it can climb a tree, it can put its little claws to work climbing up earthen walls. It's hard to see in this photo, but the poor little thing looks pitiful.

The crew has found a few things down in that trench from back when the house was built. Jeff may try to salvage an old milk bottle. The thought is that the original crew decided they'd dug far enough down there that they'd just leave construction debris and lunch trash down there in a mini-landfill. 

I'm hoping that the next owners of this house don't find a squirrel corpse if they ever have to dig up the yard.

Over the two decades-plus we've been here, I've spent millions of hours putting in flowers and stones and moving them around from time to time all around the yard -- another reason not to move. The trench might have affected some of my newer bulbs. We'll find out come spring.

The upside of this project - in addition to a much lesser threat of slimy sludge underfoot, we'll finally do something about the scrubby grass that I've been too cheap to replace. That will be a much more fun project. My gardening neighbor, Lois, better get back here to help me.