Life with Sam Dogger: Sticks Galore

In the ongoing septic tank saga, we've finally reached the dirt/sod stage. A quick recap: our sump pump broke, when it was fixed we discovered our dosing tank needed replacing, that got replaced, but because of new ordinances, our septic tank mound has to be built up before the inspector will approve the new tank. So now, as I said, we are in the dirt/sod stage.

Today we got four loads of dirt dumped in our yard. Now, Sam is a good watchdog--when he sees you. His normal post is my old blue camping chair in the garage, from which he can see the street and the main driveway. The dirt, however, was brought in via the second driveway, which Sam didn't see. How he missed the sounds of the dump truck backing up and depositing four separate loads of dirt, I have no idea.

Anyway, I came out with him and Dad into the yard a few minutes ago, and Sam was stunned by the magic transformation of the yard. At first he growled at the invading dirt, but quickly realized these lumpy hills were 1) dirt and 2) full of sticks. Both bonuses in Sam's world. He wasn't even phased when the big backhoe/front-end loader thingy came to spread the dirt. (Note: it's amazing how one big "toy" like that magically draws all the men of the neighborhood to it. There's like four or five guys in my yard right now spreading dirt, hoping for a turn to drive the backhoe.)

Thankfully I'm spared the task of helping to spread the dirt (although there'll be no getting out of laying the sod tomorrow) because I'm making dinner, so while I do that, I leave you all with a sort of photographic representation of Sam's train of thought over the past half hour. Click on the pictures for a larger view.