Last weekend we focused on yardwork. We were going to shoot rockets, but by the time Alex from next door got out of bed the wind had started for the day. I needed something to do, so JP put me to work. Job No. 1 was to enlarge the front flower bed. The Spirea we planted last year had grown quite a bit and needed more room. After an hour of pulling sod out of the clay, we declared break time. The first project of the season is so difficult after a winter of lounging around...
Our break took us to ShopKo to get some gloves, yard bags, and topsoil. I found a pair of two left gloves, another pair of two right gloves, and then finally a pair that had a left and a right. Imagine that! I hate ShopKo. I cannot wait for the Super Target to open in July!
While browsing for topsoil, JP found a nice maple on sale for $50, so we hauled it home with the tailgate up. JP is not comfortable driving around with the back of her van wide open. The boys and I thought it was pretty cool.
We put the maple smack dab in the center of the back yard in hopes that it will eventually block the view between our neighbor's deck and our soon to be deck, as well as the view into our kitchen. After the maple was firmly secured against the wind, we continued on with moving the plants up front. By 4:00 pm, we finished the relocation project. Everything looks nice, but it was a lot of work just to move three shrubs two feet.
One of the problems we encountered when we were done was that of disposing of the sod we removed. In Woodstock, we would have simply dumped it somewhere in the back where we wanted to raise the berm. Here, it's not that easy. I drove around for an hour looking for a suitable construction site. I did not feel OK with just dumping a bunch of sod on someone's job site, and I could not just dump it in a field. I finally found a good-sized gully that was washing out up on the hill where the new mall is going to go. I felt better dumping it in the gully - after all, it would help control the erosion...
We had another 1" plus of rain this afternoon (like we have had every other day for the last month). As soon as the lightning cleared out, I threw the boys in the car and we set out to assess the flood damage. It was not as spectacular as before - Salt Creek had not yet risen, and most of the drainages were already dropping in level due to their steepness. We went up to the sod dump gully to see if I had indeed helped to slow the erosion. When I got to the edge, I was happy to see green grass showing through the brown water in a few places. My idea had worked! However, when I looked downstream my eyes locked onto a big pile of sod that had been flushed from the gully and was now part of the delta in the pond. At least some of it had held.
We put the maple smack dab in the center of the back yard in hopes that it will eventually block the view between our neighbor's deck and our soon to be deck, as well as the view into our kitchen. After the maple was firmly secured against the wind, we continued on with moving the plants up front. By 4:00 pm, we finished the relocation project. Everything looks nice, but it was a lot of work just to move three shrubs two feet.
One of the problems we encountered when we were done was that of disposing of the sod we removed. In Woodstock, we would have simply dumped it somewhere in the back where we wanted to raise the berm. Here, it's not that easy. I drove around for an hour looking for a suitable construction site. I did not feel OK with just dumping a bunch of sod on someone's job site, and I could not just dump it in a field. I finally found a good-sized gully that was washing out up on the hill where the new mall is going to go. I felt better dumping it in the gully - after all, it would help control the erosion...
We had another 1" plus of rain this afternoon (like we have had every other day for the last month). As soon as the lightning cleared out, I threw the boys in the car and we set out to assess the flood damage. It was not as spectacular as before - Salt Creek had not yet risen, and most of the drainages were already dropping in level due to their steepness. We went up to the sod dump gully to see if I had indeed helped to slow the erosion. When I got to the edge, I was happy to see green grass showing through the brown water in a few places. My idea had worked! However, when I looked downstream my eyes locked onto a big pile of sod that had been flushed from the gully and was now part of the delta in the pond. At least some of it had held.
The boys did not take long to cover themselves with mud from their toes to their fingertips. The gully was the perfect size for them to explore - about a foot wide and 3 feet deep. Of course the sides were slippery clay-mud and required using hands to climb. I tried my best to scrape most of the big mud off of everyone, but the inside of my car still looks like the time I learned the meaning of "Minimum Maintenance Road."
We received over 10" of rain in May, and Omaha got over 15". Our normal for the year is 28".
