I think my lettuce might be dying. Also, my neighbours now hate me.
We’ve had a lot of rain lately.
As I’ve mentioned before, I like the rain, which is why I think I would do OK living coastally (either coast. Heck, even in the South Pacific—they’ve got a nice coast there). But this past weekend, the rain has caused a bit of a battle. I haven’t yet decided if I want to be the North or the South in this Civil War—I mostly just want it over.
My neighbours spent the May long weekend building a beautiful little deck. It’s really, really nice. Originally, they just laid out some mats and threw on a patio set. But then they decided to go all out. Soon one of the women (they are two divorcee-female roommates with all of their kids (I think there are 6 people living in that 3 bedroom in total)) brought out a bunch of two-by-fours and was busy sawing away.
By the end of the weekend, they (although mostly just the one) had put up an entire impromptu deck complete with stones, a little fence, planter boxes, and a new barbecue. Like I said, it’s really nice.
Or at least it was.
Until it rained.
A lot.
The deck area is basically three or four inches high, solid from the ground up. Our yards are kind of uneven. And this deck wasn’t exactly well planned out. So when it rained, the slightly uneven deck didn’t keep much water on it—it all rolled down into our yard.
If we were living in a house with huge yards, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. But we’re not. We live in a townhouse (although our lease says Condo—towncondo?) and our yards are tight! (Hence the reason I’m planting lettuce in my front flower bed.) Our little front yard was filled with at least three or four inches of sitting water. That means my “garden” was entirely under water.
OK, so now my plants are dying. That’s kind of annoying. But maybe they’ll pull through right? No need to complain about anything just yet. Everyone is flooding (except the neighbours and their higher deck, but whatever).
As I’m working downstairs, my daughter and I hear a funny noise. It sounds like water running. But no one’s showering, the washing machine is running—what could it be? Oh. It’s just the walls. They’re LEAKING!
We have two big bolts sticking out of the wall in our basement where the stairs are attached outside. The water in our yard was so high that it was actually leaking through the little holes into our basement. Gross!
Naturally I called our landlord. I was a little, um, annoyed, shall we say? Fortunately she wasn’t available, so I just left a message. She called back shortly after—her phone had been ringing off the hook all morning. She spoke to my husband and agreed that the neighbour’s new deck has to go (and be rebuilt properly. The landlord will even have it paid for—so no harm done, right?)
She came by a little later, checked out the front yard, and then called on our neighbours.
Needless to say, they’re really peeved off. The one who spent all the time working on it immediately asked, “Can I at least keep my garden?” Really? Your garden? Mine’s dead, thank you very much!
Of course they complained a lot, saying that their deck has nothing to do with the flooding (because the little waterfall I saw coming off of it onto our yard was my imagination, right?). Also, there were a lot of expletives targeted toward us. (It’s amazing what you hear when you’ve got your windows open.)
Fortunately the ground eventually sucked the water up after it stopped raining. Maybe, just maybe, there is hope for my lettuce. I’d like to say the same for my neighbours…
We’ve had a lot of rain lately.
As I’ve mentioned before, I like the rain, which is why I think I would do OK living coastally (either coast. Heck, even in the South Pacific—they’ve got a nice coast there). But this past weekend, the rain has caused a bit of a battle. I haven’t yet decided if I want to be the North or the South in this Civil War—I mostly just want it over.
My neighbours spent the May long weekend building a beautiful little deck. It’s really, really nice. Originally, they just laid out some mats and threw on a patio set. But then they decided to go all out. Soon one of the women (they are two divorcee-female roommates with all of their kids (I think there are 6 people living in that 3 bedroom in total)) brought out a bunch of two-by-fours and was busy sawing away.
By the end of the weekend, they (although mostly just the one) had put up an entire impromptu deck complete with stones, a little fence, planter boxes, and a new barbecue. Like I said, it’s really nice.
Or at least it was.
Until it rained.
A lot.
The deck area is basically three or four inches high, solid from the ground up. Our yards are kind of uneven. And this deck wasn’t exactly well planned out. So when it rained, the slightly uneven deck didn’t keep much water on it—it all rolled down into our yard.
If we were living in a house with huge yards, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. But we’re not. We live in a townhouse (although our lease says Condo—towncondo?) and our yards are tight! (Hence the reason I’m planting lettuce in my front flower bed.) Our little front yard was filled with at least three or four inches of sitting water. That means my “garden” was entirely under water.
OK, so now my plants are dying. That’s kind of annoying. But maybe they’ll pull through right? No need to complain about anything just yet. Everyone is flooding (except the neighbours and their higher deck, but whatever).
As I’m working downstairs, my daughter and I hear a funny noise. It sounds like water running. But no one’s showering, the washing machine is running—what could it be? Oh. It’s just the walls. They’re LEAKING!
We have two big bolts sticking out of the wall in our basement where the stairs are attached outside. The water in our yard was so high that it was actually leaking through the little holes into our basement. Gross!
Naturally I called our landlord. I was a little, um, annoyed, shall we say? Fortunately she wasn’t available, so I just left a message. She called back shortly after—her phone had been ringing off the hook all morning. She spoke to my husband and agreed that the neighbour’s new deck has to go (and be rebuilt properly. The landlord will even have it paid for—so no harm done, right?)
She came by a little later, checked out the front yard, and then called on our neighbours.
Needless to say, they’re really peeved off. The one who spent all the time working on it immediately asked, “Can I at least keep my garden?” Really? Your garden? Mine’s dead, thank you very much!
Of course they complained a lot, saying that their deck has nothing to do with the flooding (because the little waterfall I saw coming off of it onto our yard was my imagination, right?). Also, there were a lot of expletives targeted toward us. (It’s amazing what you hear when you’ve got your windows open.)
Fortunately the ground eventually sucked the water up after it stopped raining. Maybe, just maybe, there is hope for my lettuce. I’d like to say the same for my neighbours…
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