I sad.

Here's what remains of our front yard. About eight feet from the front door. Imagine how utterly thrilled I am with our municipal improvements!

To be fair ( and I don't know why the hell I should. That nice blogger award appears to have far-reaching implications, doesn't it?)

They will pay to replace every plant that had to die. They will cover my fence with some tarps (and won't that look nice!!!) until whatever we choose to plant takes hold and begins to provide a fraction of the privacy we once took for granted.

I don't know if you can tell how HUGE this rock is. It's a good 15 feet long.. at least the part that's sticking up. There's no way in hell that rock is EVER going to be dug up. The whole house would fall into the hole it would leave behind. Since they're going to have to make it below grade, I predict the lovely sound of jackhammers tomorrow morning. These assholes start earlier than I do, too. I mean, I'm up at 6 , but at 6:30 in the morning, who the f wants to hear heavy equipment just IDLING outside the house until they begin work at 7??? Not me, but they didn't ask my opinion. It *is* sort of funny that there's an obstacle this big, though, don't you think? And Cletus had to move his travel-trailer-that-doesn't-travel-and-no-one-wants-to-buy out of his front yard since they're cutting some of his property, too. Doesn't it just add to the ambience of our neighborhood? And although it's a digression (you don't mind, do you?) yesterday, when I saw him moving the trailer, he was wearing BRIGHT orange boxers and swigging from a 2 liter bottle of Mt. Dew while he worked. What a lovely sight for a Sunday morning. My religious experience for this week.

Here's where our beautiful hedges used to be. And if you're observant, you can see some of the root system that belongs to the venerable maple tree that stands there. I so hope the tree isn't permanently harmed by this.