Thursday, January 7, 2010

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.)

5 comments:

  1. Oh I wondered wat had happened about the large hole! Well I'm glad its all sorted for you but shame about the considerable expense.

    And the gales (which we are also getting) have proved that the roof is OK. Touch wood...no leaks here either!

    Oh wonder where you are having your picnic?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cannot imagine why there was such an over-provision of septic drainage facilities in the first place - were J and G expecting coach parties at some point?! A shame it's cost you so much to put it all right....then the roof! It's unfortunate to say the least that a property which is not so old apparently needs so much tlc (and money) to get it right.
    Enjoy your picnic, Jes. We have frozen snow here at present, which is fun as we don't have to go anywhere, but a Corfu picnic sounds just the ticket!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dear Ayak,
    Yes, we're touching wood all over the place here, when those gale force winds come up and the rain is flying sideways into every available opening. It makes you think! But yes, we're still dry.

    Actually the roof has held up amazingly well considering it's over thirty years old and Greek builders nowadays often build "quick" tho not necessarily "lasting".

    (Often wonder what the Parthenon would look like if it was built today!)


    Dear Viv,
    We too wondered, and the best we could come up with was that they perhaps thought when the downstairs bathroom was put in, that they needed a deeper drain- ergo: second (and not so well made)drain field, perhaps??

    The third one is on us. We built it when the drains all backed up after our first visit, because that's what the Greek plumber told us to do. As we hadn't moved in yet and were in the process of (at the time anyway) getting it ready for rental it seemed like a good idea. What did we know???

    As we were building the pool, all the equipment and builders were here so they just did it.

    Still an awful lot of drain field for a three bathroom house...


    RE: snow vs picnic... hmmm. Not a tough decision - for me anyway!

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a huge mess. I'm glad that the hole is filled...but wow! Expensive!
    It always exciting owning a home wherever it may be. We just had our roof replaced...the one in Milwaukee. I won't be traveling any time soon!!
    I hope nothing else pops up for a while! You've had your share of headaches for a while.
    Have a good day Jes! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Looks dangerous ...glad it was fixed.

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Apture