I haven't blogged much lately because NOTHING HAPPENS IN MY LIFE!!
However, we did have a little incident in our backyard... A little backstory: when we moved into the place, the backyard had a little area of grass where the dogs would potty. And when it rained, it would FLOOD. The dogs were quickly killing the grass and always tracking in mud when it would get wet. Soooo we get this bright idea to rip out the grass, put down some weedblock, and lay down pea gravel. It'd be their very own giant litter box!! We also had a sump pump installed underground where all of the excess water would drain and then be pumped out to the street. Sounds like a great idea, right?? Oh, how wrong we were...
Fast forward a couple of years (has it really been that long???) we've had countless, COUNTLESS issues with the sump pump to where we actually keep it unplugged now and just plug it in when the box gets full enough. Over these couple years, the rocks would get stinky so we were treating them with a Simple Green/Bleach thing. And just now realizing, after having it pointed out to us, that we were using bleach to treat urine. Urine = ammonia. Bleach + ammonia = MUSTARD GAS!!! Wow... So over the same years, the rocks were getting more and more stinky and the cleaning solutions were having less and less of an effect. Until one day a couple of weeks ago, when I opened the back doors and was SMACKED IN THE FACE with the smell of a very stinky outhouse. That's what it smelled like. Dontcha wanna live next to us??? So I went out to investigate.
I raked back a little of the gravel and found 1)the source of the STINK and 2)that the weedblocker had started breaking down and creating almost a cement out of the liquid and gravel. I was set to pull out all of the weedblock on my own, until I realized what a daunting task it was going to be. Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad....????? Super Dad to the rescue!! He came over, assessed the situation, and suggested that we dig a trench for better drainage. Ugh, really?? Ok, suck it up and get your dig on, Gina! But there was another hero waiting in the wings: DUN DUH DUN DUN, Super Jeremy!! Michelle's husband, Jeremy, came over to help my dad dig, put in the corrogated piping that he'd brought over, and fill it all in with some rock. Everything went really smoothly and they were done with that part that night. My dad came over a couple more times to help me take out the weedblock from under the gravel and then again to smooth everything out to make it all nice and pretty for the dogs to potty in again. With Josh being gone, I don't know what I would've done without them!!
Here are pictures of the project from start to finish.
What I found when I started digging around in the pea (or pee - hee hee!!) gravel.
Jeremy and my dad digging the drainage trench.
What they found as they were digging. Evidently, the "professional" landscaper that installed the sump pump, thought it was perfectly acceptable to run an extension cord underground and call it good.
Putting in the pipe.
After the pipe was laid and the rocks spread over the top.
My dad and Jeremy spent a few very stinky hours in the backyard trying to fix an ongoing problem. We've had some good rains since then and we haven't flooded AND it's not stinky anymore! WOO HOO!!!
February held a special day for us. One with lots of love, hugging, cuddling, and tons of wet kisses. Our little baby girl turned FIVE...with no signs of slowing down. Which is a really good thing!! We keep threatening to put her on a lesser-quality food, just so she won't have so much energy and won't be so dang sassy. But it's awesome to see her happy and prance-prancing around the house again.
We switched their food because it was giving Abbi constant yeast infections and/or allergies in her ears. Like a dummy, I didn't take her off of the same brand of dog cookies. DUH!! So now I've become one of "THOSE" dog owners and am baking their cookies. They LOVE them.
Since Josh is working so much out of town lately, I haven't been cooking much either. My home-cooked meals these days usually involve me turning on the burner, filling a pot with water, and waiting the 3 minutes it takes for ramen to cook. The other night though, I had some bell peppers that were getting kinda wrinkly so I decided to whip up something quick. I really miss cooking...
I have more pics to post and blog to blog but that will come along shortly!
However, we did have a little incident in our backyard... A little backstory: when we moved into the place, the backyard had a little area of grass where the dogs would potty. And when it rained, it would FLOOD. The dogs were quickly killing the grass and always tracking in mud when it would get wet. Soooo we get this bright idea to rip out the grass, put down some weedblock, and lay down pea gravel. It'd be their very own giant litter box!! We also had a sump pump installed underground where all of the excess water would drain and then be pumped out to the street. Sounds like a great idea, right?? Oh, how wrong we were...
Fast forward a couple of years (has it really been that long???) we've had countless, COUNTLESS issues with the sump pump to where we actually keep it unplugged now and just plug it in when the box gets full enough. Over these couple years, the rocks would get stinky so we were treating them with a Simple Green/Bleach thing. And just now realizing, after having it pointed out to us, that we were using bleach to treat urine. Urine = ammonia. Bleach + ammonia = MUSTARD GAS!!! Wow... So over the same years, the rocks were getting more and more stinky and the cleaning solutions were having less and less of an effect. Until one day a couple of weeks ago, when I opened the back doors and was SMACKED IN THE FACE with the smell of a very stinky outhouse. That's what it smelled like. Dontcha wanna live next to us??? So I went out to investigate.
I raked back a little of the gravel and found 1)the source of the STINK and 2)that the weedblocker had started breaking down and creating almost a cement out of the liquid and gravel. I was set to pull out all of the weedblock on my own, until I realized what a daunting task it was going to be. Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad....????? Super Dad to the rescue!! He came over, assessed the situation, and suggested that we dig a trench for better drainage. Ugh, really?? Ok, suck it up and get your dig on, Gina! But there was another hero waiting in the wings: DUN DUH DUN DUN, Super Jeremy!! Michelle's husband, Jeremy, came over to help my dad dig, put in the corrogated piping that he'd brought over, and fill it all in with some rock. Everything went really smoothly and they were done with that part that night. My dad came over a couple more times to help me take out the weedblock from under the gravel and then again to smooth everything out to make it all nice and pretty for the dogs to potty in again. With Josh being gone, I don't know what I would've done without them!!
Here are pictures of the project from start to finish.
What I found when I started digging around in the pea (or pee - hee hee!!) gravel.
Jeremy and my dad digging the drainage trench.
What they found as they were digging. Evidently, the "professional" landscaper that installed the sump pump, thought it was perfectly acceptable to run an extension cord underground and call it good.
Putting in the pipe.
After the pipe was laid and the rocks spread over the top.
My dad and Jeremy spent a few very stinky hours in the backyard trying to fix an ongoing problem. We've had some good rains since then and we haven't flooded AND it's not stinky anymore! WOO HOO!!!
February held a special day for us. One with lots of love, hugging, cuddling, and tons of wet kisses. Our little baby girl turned FIVE...with no signs of slowing down. Which is a really good thing!! We keep threatening to put her on a lesser-quality food, just so she won't have so much energy and won't be so dang sassy. But it's awesome to see her happy and prance-prancing around the house again.
We switched their food because it was giving Abbi constant yeast infections and/or allergies in her ears. Like a dummy, I didn't take her off of the same brand of dog cookies. DUH!! So now I've become one of "THOSE" dog owners and am baking their cookies. They LOVE them.
Since Josh is working so much out of town lately, I haven't been cooking much either. My home-cooked meals these days usually involve me turning on the burner, filling a pot with water, and waiting the 3 minutes it takes for ramen to cook. The other night though, I had some bell peppers that were getting kinda wrinkly so I decided to whip up something quick. I really miss cooking...
I have more pics to post and blog to blog but that will come along shortly!
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