26.5.09

Our yard is full of surprises. All of them  compliments of the cute people who lived here before we did.


When they "fixed it up" to sell, they did it the cheapest and lamest ways possibles. Part of the fun is we get to discover all the things they did to cut corners. 

Like the time we figured out they only installed a sprinkling system in half of the back yard.

Or the spot of lawn on the side of the house where they laid sod down with no sprinklers at all.  

Or they driveway they poured with the cheapest cement money can buy and now the entire thing is flaking up, looking sooo ugly. And those who know our house know we have A LOT of drive way. 

But this newest surprise was the best one of all. 

The grass in our parking strips (the grass between the sidewalk and the road) has never done very well. We have tried everything; aerating, more water, less water, fertilizer, you name it and nothing has helped, the poor grass just keeps getting sicker and sicker.

Turns out, before there was sod, there were rocks sitting on top of black plastic. When they put the sod down, they didn't take out the rocks and black plastic. 

That would have been too much work and made too much sense. 

Instead, they just laid the sod ON TOP if the rocks and black plastic.  

Awesome. 

There is no way that poor little grass will grow. It was doomed for the start.  So now we get the super fun project of digging everything up and starting from scratch.  

Thanks guys, we really do love a good surprise. Thanks for keeping us on our toes and we look forward to discovering the next one.  




12 Comments:

  1. RACHELLE said...
    DID YOU CATCH THIER FORWARDING ADDRESS AT CLOSING? CUZ I'D BE ALL ABOUT LEAVING SOME SURPRISES ON THEIR PORCH...I'M TALKIN' HOMEMADE SURPRISES!!!! A.K.A. LOTS OF DOG POO!
    Shauna said...
    Oh boy! That is such a silly thing someone would do!
    Jill said...
    Let me know if you find a dead body. :-) Bummer!!!!
    Jillo said...
    We have lived here for about 3 and half years and we just keep finding stuff. I think the park strips have made it as long as they have because we have totally babied them. Grr.....

    If we do find a dead body, that will be the final straw and we're gunna pack up and move somewhere far, far away.
    Carolyn said...
    It's great to hear you having a sense of humor about this! We have had the same experience with our house. I can't believe some of the things the previous owner did just to "quick fix" it. We have had to spend so much money re-doing things. My heart goes out to you!
    April (Thorup) Oaks said...
    Oh no! I'm so glad you figured it out.
    Sarah E said...
    Ha ha. I love it. Our last house was full of surprises. Like when we bought it, it took us a good 2 weeks to discover that all of the base boards were just propped up and not actually nailed into the wall. That's why we decided a new house was better. From now on, we'll be the ones leaving all the surprises behind!
    J Fo said...
    What a PAIN! I can't believe that people would feel okay leaving that kind of crap for someone else to deal with. Where are their morals?!
    stacey said...
    I know what you are talking about. When we bought our house our front yard was done, but poorly. We have struggled with it ever since. Talking to neighbors the people who owned our house before took scraps from other people lawn to use in our front yard and they just laid it right on top of the rocks and dirt. AHHH what the heck are people thinking? My hubby doesn't like our front yard and if it wasn't so expensive to fix we would have ripped it out and started over. Good luck sounds like a great project :)
    Stacy Holmes said...
    What a great opportunity to xeroscape your yard! How about some nice rock gardens and no water plants? I think you are "green" enough to do it! Plus your boys rock collections will have a nice home!
    PS I am hoping for a dead body so you can move into my neighborhood!
    Boquinha said...
    Yeah, we call dibs if you choose a new neighborhood.

    We have surprises like that! We could write a (very, very) long post about surprises like that. Very long.
    Andrea said...
    Well, the only thing better would have been a mouse nest under the sod, amidst the rocks. Yea, at least THAT didn't happen.

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