RTD made a joke of me because, like the United States, I’m a crumbling superpower who can’t get the infrastructure up to speed. For those who’ve not been keeping up with MEEEEEEEE, our April 30 post ended with a simple, “So the dirt;s all prepped. We’ll wait a couple weeks for the trees to arrive and then wrap up this slow little fiasco.”

Well, the valve wasn’t in the yard yet — that’s new. So you’ll recall I dug that hole. Well, this is where we tapped in to the community irrigation pipe to feed our delivery service.

Then the trees were installed:

I had sprinkler and drip installed just because I’m getting the yuppie package. I’m glad I got it now because that drip is doing a lot of heavy lifting as I’ve got as much a chance of completing this task looking competent as Joe Biden does issuing an Afghanistan withdrawal.

The list (ccw from right): lime (existing), lemon, apple (x2), apricot, tangerine (x2), pecan, and pomegranate (off picture to right). Think a tangerine is gonna die. And two or three ficus trees. We’ll see though. Still no grass, obviously.

So what is good?

I did get my wall realigned and gate added. That’s a good thing because that little window is on the side of the master bed and I want to bring that wall out and extend the master bed/bath into the outdoor space + patio. The old wall alignment came off the house (where the gate is) but that corner spot used to be wasted front yard space. Now it’s ‘open’ backyard space — and is also the route for the water to flow through to the backyard.

Sorry — is this not interesting? Imagine all the places Dak Prescott could injure his ankle in the offseason on this uneven terrain I am leaving out for my family!

Also got the mailbox done. We were the only house on the cul de sac without a big reinforced masonry bomb shelter for our Bed Bath and Beyond coupons. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! NEITHER COULD MY WIFE!

I really like my masonry dude though.

So, elephant in the room, why all the dirt? Pretty simple — when the zanjero ran the ‘test’ irrigation at my lot (to confirm the grading is sound and they’re providing the correct amount of water), there is a joint in the pipe under my neighbor’s driveway that is “showing leaking”, per the stop irrigation notice, when under pressure. So they shut it down and we’re waiting on this repair to happen.

This is out of my control and you ain’t gonna hear a peep out of me about it for another 60 days. All the earlier pushing was to get everything done in May. Now that it’s summer, I’m fine just letting this follow its course. Yard is dirt but, so what, this summer is brutal enough that I’m beginning to make headway on my, “Let’s just be snowbirds here!” proposition while we enjoy the 90 degree pool. And am I worried it may hang out? Not at all — because the little old lady at the end of the street who has always gotten irrigation is now not getting any irrigation until the fix is made. Super nice lady and all — definitely is ‘in’ around here (and not as a bitch either; she’s awesome and I’m glad to share her interests here). I’m 100% sure a call from her will do more than any Petition.Org campaign I could put together to draw attention to the matter.

Really, my work is about done for now.

Anything else?

My wife, as many of you can appreciate, is so unhappy with the situation that she’s going to…vote for anyone but Biden — which seems to be a lot of peoples’ solution to a lot of things unrelated to my yard these days. Still, even as I am pivoting to the planning the outdoor kitchen stuff, I’m keeping that prep work all to myself for now. I really don’t like opening new work until old stuff is closed and July is a good time for planning indoors, more than executing outdoors.

And, like Joe Biden, no one has the balls to challenge me so I’m going to keep NAPPING GOING HARD!