well, that was unexpected

Before we moved, as part of the sale, the previous owners told us that they had contracted to fix "the basement window issue." They told us how much they were paying for it, which was a lot, and we thought, "Wow, that's a lot to pay for a window! It must be something really special." And then we forgot all about it because there was a lot of other stuff going on.

So imagine my surprise when I came home from picking the boys up from school yesterday to find two Bobcats in the side yard. No people, just the Bobcats. But then a few minutes later, two giant trucks and a whole crew of workers showed up. Turns out the "window issue" wasn't the window itself, which had already been replaced, but the whole yard! It wasn't graded properly, and there was no drainage to speak of, so all the water was going against the foundation of the house and making its way through the weakest spot (the window). So the crew spent yesterday afternoon and all day today digging up the side yard, digging a trench and laying a drainage pipe all the way out to the pasture, and re-grading the whole thing so that water goes away from the house. Phew! Nothing like a major construction project to liven up the end of our first week here.