When I received my severance check from my previous employer, I have to admit I gave a moment or two of thought to where I would have spent the money if I had been 22 or 21 when I received it. Three months salary (even for a low paying entry level job) is quite a chunk of money and let's just say visions of a new wardrobe and designer purses danced in my head. Okay, okay, I admit it - anyone who knows me knows I'm not really much of a designer purse kind of gal - but maybe I could be in my money fantasies, all right? In all likelihood, even my 22 or 21 year old self would have been extremely boring and put the check right into savings. Being the 28 year old married self that I am, my husband and I decided to make some improvements to the house and landscaping with the funds.
Our first big step was to put in a french drain. You see, our yard is basically the drain zone for six or seven houses - it slopes directly into a storm sewer on the other side of our fence. Sure, landscaping may seem like an extravagant item (who needs a french drain, right?), but let me assure you it was a necessity. Our sump pump would run continously on rainy days - even flooding our basement once when it didn't kick on.
See what I mean? The one silver lining from the total and complete disaster pictured above was that the clear rainwater (once cleaned up - Mitch dumped over 100 gallons of water into the utility sink during the process), actually left our carpet significantly cleaner than it had been before.
On top of the flood threats, our yard would be a swampland for weeks after heavy raining - with standing water as prime breeding ground for mosquitos. Mitch was out after dusk once and was literally attacked by mosquitos - I counted 12 on his shirt before I ran for cover. (My dislike of mosquitos has been documented previously).
Add up those factors and they suddenly start to turn into a sound reason to make an investment in a french drain. For those of you who don't know, a french drain is an underwater pipe that gathers up excess water and transports it elsewhere (in our case, the storm sewer next door). Since having it installed a few weeks ago, we have been SO happy with the results. Our yard dries out more quickly (allowing for easier mowing), our sump pump hardly runs at all, and we're keeping water away from our foundation more effectively, which is always a good thing.
Now, on days like yesterday (it was raining cats and dogs and probably small ponies out there), you can still see what it was like before the installation.
Mitch likes to call this "A River Runs Through It."
Here you can see the storm sewer in our neighbors yard. Once it stops raining, water will pour out of our french drain for hours - keeping everything moving swiftly out of our yard. Even with the complete deluge out there, our sump pump did not kick on ONCE.
Here is a photo taken about a half hour after the rain slowed down:
You can still see the rain pooling in our neighbors yard, but ours is already clear. Take a look at how much water is pouring out of our drain:
I know it's hard to see, but it's literally pouring out like a fire hose! It may not be a designer handbag or a new wardrobe, but it brings me girlish delight just the same.
