Old business, or What happened to the Hades hole in the front yard?

I suppose I should probably finish off some old business from last year, as poor T spent the better part of the four weeks I was away in the States, dealing with it.

Before (when I left...):

After (when I returned!):

It was not "cheap". Basically the cost was about the same as two full price round trip tickets to the states!

So here it is, the "thing in the middle"- (click on picture for detailed view)

and (notice how serious the team is...) fortunately they connected the first septic field to the third septic field. This is what happens when you have an "embarras de champs septique" (or too many septic fields!)

12 to 14 (T lost count) trucks, each poured 4 cubic meters of "fill" into the hole. Then it was topped with "good dirt" so we could grow some grass. (Needless to say, now that the grass is growing the dirt has settled and we'll probably need at least another 4 cubic meters of "good dirt"

Poor T, of course, at the same time, also had to deal with the leaking roof:

that included him spending GREAT quantities of time up there basically repairing all the fissures and holes with 25 tubs of cement (40 kilos each!) and then painting all the tiles with a sort of rubberized sealant (5 tubs of 20 kilos each) to make it as waterproof as possible: for a while, anyway.

Sadly, he's not done yet, meaning there's more to haul up to the roof. (Should I mention at this point that he is NOT fond of heights?)

Anyway, at least things are mostly back together and as we've had two huge storms (with gale force winds!) since I've been back, the roof has not leaked, and there are no new chasms.

We give thanks that currently, the household gods (or demons) are holding off any mischievous new repair challenges!

As for my new years suggested 'evolutions', I have managed to dance to my music every day, without anyone laughing (mostly because I do it when T is otherwise occupied!)

I have also managed to listen to OM for at least a few minutes every afternoon - thus far, the mind squirrels are at bay!

Tomorrow I will be baking - SOMETHING - as we are going to go to a really nice place on Saturday with friends and bringing a picnic lunch along. I will write more about where we're going probably in my next post.

For now, Ciao.


I have included a little app for free web radio (Shoutcast) as the current soundtrack of my life.

Piano music is just lovely and currently playing for me right now... there are a few other channels in the favorites file. (so far this app works well, tho not all the channels seem to be available all the time.)