Last Weekend's Nightmare

Last weekend, Shaun finished up his last couple days at his old job and wasn't going to be starting his new job until Monday so he thought he'd spend a couple of days in the yard and get lots done.  Well, as is usually the case with Shaun's projects (love you, honey!), he underestimated the amount of time it would take him to accomplish the things he had planned. 

On Monday, he had someone come and dig the trenches for the sprinklers.  Then he spent the next several evenings cleaning out those trenches and digging a couple more.  Thursday morning, we had a couple of dump trucks full of top soil delivered and then Shaun went to the sprinkler supply store.  A couple hours (and several hundred dollars) later, he had what he needed to get started with the sprinklers.  Shaun's dad and brother came over for a few hours on Thursday evening, but we got stuck when we thought we were missing a few things (turns out we had everything we needed).  Friday morning someone delivered the sod while Shaun and I marked where each of the sprinkler heads would go.  Then things got serious--we started installing the sprinkling system.  

By Friday evening we had made some good progress.  And then we ran into a bit of a snag.  We needed to run a line under the sidewalk into the parking strip.  My cute mom and dad had come over to assist us and boy, did we have a good time! :0)  After consulting with Dale at Home Depot, we decided to run a larger pipe under the sidewalk and then use that as a sleeve to place the sprinkler pipe in.  Well, we got the larger pipe in, but it was so full of the cement that is our yard that we couldn't get the sprinkler pipe in.  We spent hours getting more and more things stuck under the sidewalk--pieces of wood, rebar, you name it!  Finally, after about 2-3 hours of fun, we gave up.  The next day, thanks to a generous neighbor and his power washer, we got through.  My brother, Shaun's brother and I were all muddy messes by the end, but by golly, we got through!

Saturday Shaun was out in the yard by 6:00.  I'll spare you all the details, and will say only that it was one of the longest and most exhausting days of my life!  We're still not done, but I've finally convinced Shaun that Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither will our yard.