The Harsh Realities

Dreams are so easily overrun by economic realities. Why does it have to be that way?

I've been pouring over landscaping ideas from magazines, books, 'make-over' shows and my own little imagination. I want a Garden rather than just a yard. I want wide beds of flowers and variegated foliage surrounding lovely winding paths that lead to garden swings and benches. I want pots overflowing with plants, little surprises around every corner; a 4-season garden with all my favorite colors and plants. A pergola would be nice. With vines. Roman.

And a miriad of pretty birdhouses scattered around.

But what I HAVE is standing water and grass-covered mud that you sink in up to your ankles. What I HAVE is a drainage problem to end all drainage problems - we are talking about the volume of a hillside's-worth of water here - and 3 huge tree stumps that need to be ground; a very scary process. The water problem is more than the landscape designer could handle. We'll need to bring in the experts. (Who are these 'experts' and where can we find them?) And maybe a constant sump pump, she says. Good grief. We don't know where the water is coming from, and we're not even sure where it is going to... but she thinks we should probably peer under our house a bit. Here and there.

There's going to be huge expenses to fix the problems before we can plant a single rose or vine.

We'll get started. But I suspect that my days of lolling around in a hammock are a long way off.