A River Runs Through It

What do you do when you have had tons of rain and a drainage problem has developed?  There are actually a couple of actions available to you in this situation.  You can go back inside and ignore the problem, you can call a ditch digger out to install some type of drainage system, or you can hand your wife a shovel.

I chose option 3 as it was the easiest on my soft hands and on my wallet.

Since the fall, we've been getting about thirteen inches of rain a week and the backyard was in a constant state of mush.  Don't go out there with nice shoes or long pants on, because you were going to get muddy in your first step.  To help cure some of the issues of the swamp, we purchased a couple bales of hay to create a trail to the trampoline.  That has helped some, but I'm afraid we'd lose a kid if they strayed from the yellow path.  More work was needed.

After ignoring the problem for a while, Cari started to get annoyed with the conditions of our yard and took things into her own hands.  While at work one day, I received a picture text from her.  I could see that it was our backyard and what appeared to be a small river running through it.

A few minutes later, she sent a short video to my phone.  The video confirmed what I thought the picture was showing me.  My wife had grabbed a shovel when I left for work and created a network of drainage ditches through the backyard.  This work has left our backyard looking like a World War I battlefield.

At least the water problem has been solved!