A Whole Lot More Than I Bargained For!

Ginter Botanical Gardens. Copyright 2012: singeronthesand

Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!

James 3:5 (KJV)

The previous owner my house turned his carport into a family room.  He then hauled in a couple of dump trucks of top soil and laid it over what used to be the driveway, then planted grass on about a 20x26' plot.  Part of this dirt was laid on top of concrete, so the grass on top of that area died every summer.  I had a friend come in and dig out an 8'x20' strip, and discovered concrete underneath, making a nice walkway in front of that section of the house.  I decided that I really didn't want grass in the 20x20' plot that remained; last fall, I covered the whole area with black plastic and left it until this spring, killing all the grass underneath.

 

Several weeks ago, I got my wheel barrow and shovel and began to remove dirt and dead grass.  You know, that area doesn't look like much until you begin to attack it with a shovel.  The more dirt that I removed, the more dirt that was left.  I graduated to a shovel and my pick-up truck, but it was the same story.  No matter how much dirt I shoveled, there was a HUGE amount remaining to be removed.  The sight of this relatively small plot of ground is very deceptive.  I finally placed an ad on Craigslist and hired a very nice fireman with a little bobcat to remove the rest of it.

My father had a saying about a mole hill suddenly becoming a mountain.  How many times do we start a project that is "no big deal," only to discover that it is far more extensive than we ever dreamed.  How often do we promise to do something for someone else that appears to be insignificant and then unfolds into a big headache.  Dad would have laughed himself silly at my "little bit" of dirt in the front yard.  And then he would have said, "Kiddo, sometimes you really need to stop, think, consider all sides, and then... think again!" Good advice for my front yard conundrum, and many other areas of my life!