French Drain Documented

This is a project that M took upon himself to improve the yard. When it rained this one side of our lawn would puddle up with water for a long time. He thought that a French Drain system would be helpful and it is!! It works like a charm. No more puddles and that means no more breading grounds for mosquitoes! H invited his coworker over to help - what a good friend. It just so happened to be one of the most hot and humid days when M decided to do this project. He wanted to make sure that it could get all done by that evening too. So he asked me to help start digging the night before - - at 9:00 p.m.! I was in my pj's and flip flops. The ground is like a wet suction cup with every step and the bugs were out and about. My job was to hold the light while he dug out the sod. Now I knew M was strong, but not this strong. He was pulling these huge clumps of sod that are completely filled with water. He is standing in the trench full of water heaving out the monstrous loads, bugs are swarming him (and me because I am holding the light!), and he says "Isn't this fun?!". What a guy. After a little while I am really noticing the bugs all over me and am asking M every few minutes why we can't do this in the morning. I am then given the job to shovel the sod out so he can pick it up. Now I am shaking because this wet land smells like sewage and the bugs are eating my alive. I also notice that every time M lifts up the sod an army of huge spiders come running towards me!! If any of you know me then you know how I felt about this. I was beside myself. I must have been in shock because I didn't think of going to change my clothes so they wouldn't be running over my toes and up my legs .\dfkla;kdhf lksjfhg. Oo that gave me the shivers just writing about it. Lets move on.

M's friend came the next day and his wife and family came too. We swam at the pool next door while the boys worked hard to finish the job. I made sure they had drinks, but you could tell that they were delirious from heat, exhaustion, and dehydration. They were moving very slow by the end of the project. You can tell in the pictures. Luckily they got to come swim afterwards. We have such nice neighbors. Wow, this story turned into a long one. I hope you enjoy the pictures. . .




Our great neighbors.
M's coworker and wife

Before we cut the ground

This shows the three stages of the system. Ground, rocks, hose, rocks, sod on top.

Almost finished!

Last clump of sod to roll over!!