7-years ago the pipe that took water out of the house to the city sewer system caved in and backed up all the plumbing in the house. The basement was flooded. Our pets were so freaked out. We didn’t have our tiny black cat at the time, but the dogs and the two cats were cowering, trying to comfort each other and in general fear mode.

Not right now. My dog is asleep next to me. Her sister is in a little bed that she uses. My cats are all three sleeping on my bed. I can’t believe it because the jackhammer is shaking the front of our house.

I tend to think that animals follow your lead. I don’t like all the noise, but I’m not reacting much to it. It’s just annoying, but I know that it won’t last forever.

It was over 17k all said and done.

The work that I’m doing now is nowhere near that amount. I paid out of pocket for removal of trees that were really overgrown weeds all along the perimeter of the backyard. I also paid out of pocket for all the insulation that I did this winter, and think that I can do that too with the work that I’m having done right now.

It’s significant to me to be able to choose what needs to be done and the timeline for it.

This entry is about construction and improvement.

I’m getting a concrete block at my garage entry, a drainage system to divert water from the front of the roof to the tree on the east side of my house, the irrigation going, a new porch, demolition of the hideous concrete in the back where the irrigation, hose hook-up, and evaporative cooler water flow is, the 60s or 70s tin shed is already gone, they’re laying a new concrete base, and new concrete on the side of garage where a poorly installed irrigation system had eaten away the concrete.

I’m chilling. It’s noisy, dusty and disruptive. However, it’s not all that bad and my animals know that too. They’re not reacting much at all even when the crew is cutting rebar against our house. I’m constructing myself too. I love living alone, getting rid of deteriorating things, and looking forward to all the renewal.

It got oppressively hot this week. Everything is fried. I sat in the heat on the patio drinking coffee last weekend in a glider on the porch. There are chickadee babies in the birdhouse in the corner and it’s very sweet to watch them feed their babies larvae and little grasshoppers. I’ve been keeping the hanging birdbath that I got with Aveda points full of water for them. I am going to work all summer to improve both gigantic yards so I can sit outside. I’ll sit in the back this summer and sit up front in the fall.