I was up til 3am installing a dog door.   When I’d finished and re-hung it, Kila immediately trotted over, stuck her nose through the flap, and boredly shuffled back to her pillow.   Turtle jumped through, then only came back when she knew i was locking up the garage for the night.   At least it will get utilized immediately, and animals can shit in the grass, though a thank you would have been nice.   I meant to go to bed sooner, but these things happen when you start at 10pm after several other projects and reconnaissance.

One of G’s good friends from school was having a party the next morning, way the hell over in AJ.   But we had to deal with the pond at the Mesa house to remove it from the plate of the renters, and G was going to freak out if she didn’t play with some kids. We got to Mesa at about 2:30. G and Alana had both had a full day, but would not rest, depsite being stuck in an empty house and an empty yard with parents too busy doing prison labor to listen to any of their yammering.

I feared this might take 2 days. The rocks pulled back and pond emptied of plants in an hour, another hour to pull the skin. Instead of bailing we ripped the skin up in pieces and let everything spill over and sink in, periodically requiring one of us to get nearly under water to eviscerate the rubber lining and let a cascade of crud fall on the slicer.

some serious roots on the mesquite, one of em was wrapped in cloth, which told us it was huge before the pond even went in over 10 years ago

more amazing roots on the water plants

G and Alana keeping busy in the sandbox

We were now so foul and in awe of the enormous sinkhole in front of us, we just pushed nearly all the crap right back in.   Getting splashed as rocks and plants and the compost pile were hurled into the murky, green-brown pit was barely noticed.   Then we stacked up the cinder blocks and dug up the garden and shucked it in on top.   A tuckbed of dirt and a truckbed of gravel and you will never know any ot it existed.   It will keep things simpler and make the house look cleaner to sell. When I told my parents we filled in the pond, Mom didn’t even know we had one.   Filling it in was the 2nd time ever I got in to work on it, I hated it that much.   Beckie gave it one brief eulogy then hurled in filler as fast as she could.   It took 2 of us about 4 hrs to kill it, and at least twice that to maintain properly every year.   Still not sure I can handle the Happy Meal sized yard i now have, but i sure as fuck never want any of that shit again.

Alana and G both were exhausted, bored, stressed, and wailing inconsolably.   Had they not fallen asleep when they did, they might have ended up in the pit too.   Finally i let G play with the camera, and she did quite a remarkable job capturing the day.