Latest Update On The Back Yard!

Well, now the back yard has had it's first rototilling. This first one was to break up the soil and then smooth it out...but mostly to remove the rest of the damned weird trash we've been finding. Before the new sod is laid we'll have to till it again, mixing in soil amendment (our soil is decidedly NOT top quality).

So far we've filled a 35 gallon trash can with assorted bits of rusty metal, old beer can pull tabs, marbles (OK, we those were cool and we kept them), broken toys, chunks of broken and/or melted glass, rocks, broken china and the remains of many, MANY pigs. Creepy.

Besides the marbles, a few cool surprises: an unbroken Cracker Jack toy--a magnifying glass--, a small goldplated pendant adorned with what appears to be amethysts circa 1920's, and yesterday a square nail! I've never dug one of those up around here before, so it was a surprise. I stood there blinking at it for a bit.

Today J. set up the new inflatable pool for N.--12 feet across and 30 inches deep, she was in Heaven. We explained the swimming lessons she was going to have this summer and explained to her that no longer is she allowed in the back yard unless one of her parents was with her. This is the first pool we've had that has a filter and doesn't get dumped out after each use, so it has a cover and will have a pool alarm too.

As we sat in it this afternoon, Duck was watching avariciously, no doubt planning on how to Take Over. Finally he jumped into his own pool and swam around quacking loudly. I think he was a little stunned at first that humans actually enjoy swimming, too.

Next comes the sod! I can't wait, it will put an end to the vast amounts of dirt being tracked into the house and sticking to freakin' EVERYTHING.