[Colonel K0rn]

I don't have the greatest writeup that some of the other users have with their lawn renovations, so bear with me. I figured I would go ahead and start a thread of my own, and document some of the findings that I have encountered thus far. I apologize for the wall of text in advance.

A little history about my property: it was built in 2003, is just over 1/3 of an acre, and we moved here just over 6 years ago. Our subdivision is named Madison Oaks, and I can count on one hand the number of oak trees within a block. I sure wish I had a few trees in my yard, but over the years, I haven't been able to get a single tree to grow on the lot, which I found to be really odd. Another odd thing is that when it rains any amount over 0.25", I typically get standing water in the front and back yard. It's really bad in the back yard, so much so that I have to wait sometimes 3-4 days before I can get my mower out to take care of the yard. I found it interesting when I was replacing my mailbox post, as I dug the hole for the 4x4 below 2', the hole started having water seep into it from the sides. I just assumed that we had a high water table. I'm a ham radio operator as well, and I ran into the same issues when I installed my radio tower. It was a mess trying to get 4' below the surface, and it hadn't rained in over 3 weeks. I felt like I was working on a well out in an oil field.

My property sits in a corner lot of our portion of the subdivision, and I have an easement from the railroad that runs behind my house, and a property that is to the North of my house that is overgrown and completely unkempt, due to the fact that the owner was wheelchair-bound and blind. He didn't have the means to take care of his lot, so it's the neighbor's problems. I can peer over the fence, and see a retention pond that is almost about the same level as my lawn. So, when it rains, water collects, and reaches about the same level of the small pond. There is a small swale that runs on the north and south sides of the property, as well as one against my back fenceline. I'm pretty sure these were put there when the development was made, but over time, erosion has changed the grade to where they are ineffective.

Prior to this year, I did the average homeowner maintenance on the lawn, mowing, trimming, edging, and throwing the occasional bag of weed and feed. Having moved from a property that had just over 5 acres, it felt like I was taking forever and a day for me to be out in the GA sun to tend to my property, sometimes taking 3 hours to complete my job. It also felt like my job was growing longer every summer, to the point where sometimes I just didn't want to go outside and get covered in clippings and get sunburnt. I did get compliments on the appearance from neighbors on both sides of me, as well as across the street. I took pride in how it looked, and I thought I was doing well, but I could do better. That's pretty much how I felt when I went out of town for 2 months to go help my father with his business; we were on the road from August until the beginning of October, and prior to my leaving town, I hacked down the weeds as best as I could to keep them at bay.



My wife didn't call anyone to take care of the property while I was gone, so the lawn just became completely overgrown, and very unruly. When I returned, it looked like a scene from Jumanji (Robin Williams version, not Dwayne Johnson :lol She said that she thought I enjoyed doing yard work, to a certain extent I did, but not hacking through jungles!

Hedges that were overgrown, and then cleaned up.


This was the pile of clippings and cuttings that were collected after my efforts were spent.
I spent several hours cleaning everything, and vowed that I was going to do what I could to never let it get back to that state again. And that's where I have been for the past two years. I've never let my lot get out of control, and when I've had to go out of town, I arranged to have someone to at least do the rudimentary care of the lot. I've had life happen, and just maintained the property where it's useable, but not as good as I can get it. It's a matter of priorities, and what I'm willing to commit to. I made the commitment this year to begin a renovation, conquer the weeds, and have the lawn that's the envy of the neighborhood. I didn't realize what a task I had ahead of me, more than just using Roundup, and replanting... no, it's much more than that.

 

[Colonel K0rn]

I remember coming across one of Allyn Hane's videos on YouTube last year, specifically about striping, and thought to myself, "You know, that would be a neat way to make the lawn pop." I always tried to have nice stripes, and my Snapper made pretty good stripes. Prior to my knee surgery, I used to push mow and laid down some nice stripes. After mowing my new neighbor's lawn a few times, I assumed they needed a lawn mower, which they did. Good neighbors take care of each other, although I regret letting my 3-in-1 self propelled Snapper go. I'm gonna ask them if I can buy it back tomorrow, but I digress :lol:

I bought my Z150 Snapper 33" zero turn 5 years ago, and either side-discharged, or bagged it. Mainly, I bagged the clippings, and that's usually what took up most of my time. In May, I purchased the mulching kit, and blade for it, and was so glad that I did. It made the laborious part of tending to the lawn much easier. I'm from the school of thought that you need to return those nutrients back to the soil in order to continue to make the fertilizer you put down last longer.

I started watching a lot of videos on YouTube, and I never thought I'd find myself watching videos of guys mowing grass, but it happened. And then I saw the effects that guys were getting, with what seemed to be a proper program of pre-e and post-e treatments combined with proper fertilization. I was doing the same thing that I've been doing over the years, expecting different results, which is the proper definition of insanity.

After consideration, I decided that I would go with a Soil Savvy test kit, and test the front and the back yards. I considered that I would need to find out what my soils was needing, and get the right fertilizer or amendments for the soil in order to set it up for the best chance of success. I figured that if I could get rid of the weeds, the grass would take care of the rest, followed up with a proper pre-e program. I reached out to Matt Martin aka The Grass Factor on YouTube. I explained to him the grass types that I had, and shared the results of my samples. I took his recommendations, and started researching several chemicals that I would need, and figuring out the best approach to address the situations I currently had regarding turf and insect control.

My first survey of the yard determined that I had an issue with fire ant, which are pretty common here. I counted 23 ant mounds in my lawn. That was to be expected, as I hadn't put down an application of Over 'n Out in a few months; I figured it had just worn off. I also was noticing holes about 3" deep being dug up in the back yard, and I assumed it was my dogs that were doing dog things, until I found a newly dug hole and called the wife out. She said, "Well, you can't blame the dogs for that one." I sure couldn't, as the dogs were being boarded for that weekend :roll: I dug around, and found that I had some white grubs in the soil, and made the connection that the armadillo I saw the night before somehow had been the culprit for tearing up the back yard, along with the occasional mole track I stomped down. I was going to remove the food source, and then I shouldn't have any problems, right? At least, that was my logic behind it.

I got a 4 gallon Chapin backpack sprayer, some marking dye and a bottle of Celsius WG to start with for the weed control. At a medium application rate, I figured I would crush almost all of the broadleaf weeds I had identified, and gain control over about 80% of them, and then spot treat the majority of the other ones that I had missed, or wouldn't be treated by Celsius. I let the lawn go for a few days prior to application, and suited up on June 9th.


After the application, I was very pleased with the quick death of most of the weeds, and my happiness began to turn into horror as I found out that the medium rate application of Celsius will absolutely nuke carpet grass, which turned out to be approximately 3/4 of the turfgrass that I had in my lawn. I misidentified it as centipede, and now had a really terrible looking problem on my hand. :shock:

That being said, the application of Milorganite that I did a week prior really made the bermuda that was lying underneath really take off. In this photo, you'll see some of the water pooling that took place after 0.86" of rain we had on 7/9/17. The following day, we had 1.25" of rain, which turned my back yard into a swamp.


I was watching a Grass Daddy video one evening, and specifically saw him putting his TLF sticker on his spreader, and found TLF. Since I've been here, I've gotten more educated on the importance of levelling, and the level of lawn that I now strive to attain. I used to admire the property of the guy a few houses down from my house who was always tending to his lawn, and had a really nice looking front yard. He had a very lush and thick bermuda lawn, immaculately trimmed crepe myrtles and nice hedges. He moved a few months back, and now it's occupied by people who have let it go to hell, although, who am I to talk? It went from this:

To being scalped by a rotary:



Anyways, to address the issues of the ants and grubs, I also fired my exterminator, and laid down an application of Dominion, Termidor WG and Bifen XT on June 9th. By June 11th, my yard was devoid of any insect life, and I'm happy with that right now. More to come

 

[Colonel K0rn]

Amidst all of this, I've still got it on my "Honey Do" list to put up a deck for the pool we had installed in March, and I have to keep my dogs from somewhat creating a racetrack around the whole area I'm trying to get some grass to grow in. As I got more in depth with the education of the Bermuda Triangle, TeeJet nozzle types and wand modifications and the right type of schedule I would need to use for my turfgrass, I was advised by Matt Martin (The Grass Factor) that I would need to "embrace the bermuda lawn I would now have." :lol: Which was a good thing, because I had a few good stands of bermuda that were growing along my driveway, and in my backyard. My next weed on the list was goosegrass and a TON of green kyllinga. After considering my options, I decided to go with Dismiss.

An application of Dismiss July 16 was laid down on all of the areas that I could see it growing, and within 3 days time, I had a pretty significant kill in the front and back yard areas that I treated. At the same time I also did a blanket application of a product called Axilo Mix 5, which is supposed to aid in supplementing a lot of the micronutrients that my soil was lacking.

Dead goosegrass and green kyllinga.


I was still on the fence as to whether or not I was going to do a total kill, and reseed, or to pound the current bermuda with N and get it to take off. As it stands now, I'm currently pounding down the N on the lawn, at about 2#/1K, and it's having great results. I was expecting my Pro Plugger 5-in-1 tool to arrive today, but it's been delayed. However, I did receive a package containing a product that I ordered on Thursday evening, and I was going to see what my visitor earlier in the day had to say prior to moving forward.

 

[Colonel K0rn]

An issue that has plagued me for the past few years and has been getting progressively worse is that when we get rain that is more than 0.25" for more than a day or two, I will have standing water in my yard. I assumed it was partially to blame for a high water table, and I found out today that just isn't the case. It's not helping it, but it is a factor.

I have been talking to my county extension agent about what's going on in my lot, and what I'm trying to accomplish. I gave him a tour of the property, and had some areas where I had dug holes in the ground to show him the standing water issue. Some of the holes that were about a 1' deep had water that was about 6" below the surface of the soil. While we were walking over some of the barren areas, he said "That looks like salt." Here's a picture of one of the areas that looks very salty, with some of the dead carpetgrass.

The auger that he uses pulls 6" plugs, and he then laid them on the surface, and it was interesting to see him pull out the different layers and lay them upon the ground. If you look closely, you'll see my bat house

When he got to 18" in the front yard, he kept trying to pull out the plug, but nothing was in the center. I told him, "Well, I think you hit the "sloppy layer"." He chuckled, and agreed, and I said, I bet you in a minute, that hole will be filled with water from the sides. Sure enough, it was.

Here's a photo of what I called "white sand", which lies just beneath the organic layer of top soil. This is what I found to be really odd as it seemed to be dry, while the top layer of soil was wet.

At his truck, he had a meter that checks the electrical conductivity of the soil.

What we found out today was really fascinating to me. He explained that some of the soils have high sodium content, as well as some of the rain that falls. They're naturally occurring, and when you have a difference in electrical conductivity(EC) of the soil strata, you can have a situation that I'm experiencing. Sodium in the soil also has a large area of influence, similar to how you can have a drop of gasoline in a 1,000 gallons of water make it undrinkable (bad analogy, sorry). Soil EC plays a direct role in the ability for the soil to either hold or drain water. Depending on the measurements of the soil in the location tested, either drains or amendments can be recommended. What we found with our initial field observations and test in my front yard is that the "white sand" that was below the organic material has a difference in EC great enough to not allow the water to permeate that layer quickly, causing it to stay on the surface for a long period of time. In my back yard, we found that difference to be 10x greater than in the front yard, which was fascinating to me.

In our initial discussions prior to his visit today, he explained that he had encountered some situations on farms where they work to incorporate measures to keep the water that farmers irrigate with in the soils longer. In my situation, the opposite is true. The measurements that he had with his meter helped us to confirm our hypothesis, and now the next step is to have a few tests performed on the various strata of soil that I have in my lot. The good news is that incorporating gypsum would be the first order to counteract the inability of some of the ionic exchange between the naturally occurring salts, and those that are being brought up by the high water table.

What I found funny is that he asked me if I had been able to grow any trees, to which I replied I had not. In the past, I've tried dogwoods, weeping willows, apple trees, japanese maples, and they have all died within the season. It's not from a lack of trying to keep it growing, it's just the soil! He suggested that I start looking into trees that grow in the Middle East, like pistachios, pomegranate and fig trees. :lol:

 

[SGrabs33]

Wow, way to go the extra mile and have your soil looked at in depth! Most people would just try and try with different amendments. Very interesting and glad your making progress!

 

[Colonel K0rn]

Went to my local Site One, and had a good conversation with the salesman. Explained what I'm doing, and he encouraged me to go ahead and kill off what I had, and we'd work to get the grass established until November. That's a nice benefit of living near the coast, although the offset is that the summers can be pretty miserable due to humidity and heat. Plus bugs... speaking of which, I had a random wasp decide to sting me in the forearm out in the middle of the yard 3 days ago. My arm is still itching and swollen, but the past 2 days have really sucked. Wife says I was scratching it in my sleep

On the plus side, the weather has been really great: low 70's at night, mid 80's during the "heat" of the day. Tomorrow I'm going to mix up the Glyphosate, and get to spraying! I expect the soil results to be in within a few days, but since I know the pH of the lawn was low from the Soil Savvy test that I had completed prior to the pending extension results, it can't hurt to throw down some dolomitic lime and get that in the ground.

 

[Colonel K0rn]

Today was the day to spray. It was bittersweet, since my wife said, "You know, you should have done this in the beginning." :| I had that feeling as I was rolling over the nice stands of grass that were shades darker than my neighbor's lawns. Prior to spraying, I took a picture from the porch, and was admiring the color difference, even with the dead brown spots where carpet grass once was. Of course, the lawn was still peppered with green kyllinga, and some goosegrass, but there was a lot more desirable grass today than I had 2 months ago, so I'm learning as I go.

I was admiring the Lorapetalum that I had by the house, as I trimmed them a few weeks ago, and the leaves have turned a nice purple color, and have some blooms on them. Beautiful plants!

Hell strip, that's not very hellish.

I didn't take a panoramic of the front, so here's 2 images.

I did get the basic soil test in for the front yard, and my pH was at 4.9 Suggestion was to put down 55#/1K ft². That's a whole lotta lime, but I'm going to break up the applications, possibly by adding calcitic lime along with the dolomitic lime to get the seedlings a good chance to get rooted in a pH environment they can do well in. That's all for today, I've got my college roommate coming to visit for the afternoon, and I'm making a brisket for us!

 

[Colonel K0rn]

So I did the application of Roundup all over the yard on Wednesday, and we have had over 1.5" of rain since then. I had some pretty serious ponding in the front, and still have some standing water. I'm going to be bringing in some soil/sand and bringing those areas up to level with the rest of the yard prior to seed down. That being said, the majority of the grass is looking pretty bad, but not completely yellow. Can I go ahead and scalp what's here, and respray what looks green?

 

[Redtenchu]

I'd wait a week and respray before scalping.

But, time is very valuable at this point in the year. Even living on the coast, you'll risk losing the new Bermuda. I'd recommend you act quickly with any leveling or other prep work you have planned.

 

[Colonel K0rn]

I've been out of town for a week, so I didn't update anything that's happened over the past few days. When I came back, everything was dead, with the exception of a few stray weeds. So, I had a long day of work in the lawn today. Since I'm tired, I'll keep it brief. The extension agent recommended 55#/1k ft² of lime to raise pH to 6.5 and 40#/1k ft² of gypsum to counteract the high sodium levels and combat the "ponding" effect that I have in the front and the back yards. I decided to break up the total amendments needed into 3 applications. I also was working against the clock to try and get these little babies growing!

Since we were going to go watch the eclipse in the path of totality, Monday was going to be a bust due to weather at my home. I knew I was going to need to get the prep work done on Sunday/Tuesday, so I rented a dethatcher to remove as much of the dead carpet grass that was stuck on the surface of the soil. I got one pass on the yard done, and had just started in my cross-pattern when I heard a loud BANG!from where the flail blades were so I quickly released the activation handle, and let the axle stop spinning. I shut off the motor, and lifted up the front wheels. 6 blades, and 12 washers, a spindle shaft and one "Geezus clip" came sliding out the front of the machine. Some engineers refer to the clips as E clips, but as a mechanic, I always referred to them as Geezus clips, because when you remove one, and it goes flying, you say, "Oh Geezus"

So, I'm wondering what in the hell to do, as I start looking for the missing blade, the missing bushing, and the missing clip. I know I didn't hit anything in the ground, as I had just engaged the blades, and I always started them tipped up, and not flat on the ground. Just a habit from dethatching my lawns. Anyway, I looked for a bit, then called the HD rental store, and explained what happened. Fortunately, there was another store in town that had another machine, so I returned the defective one, and drove over to the other store and got another unit. I finished up the debris removal on Sunday, saw the eclipse in Orangeburg, SC in the path of totality for ~2m:30s. Was pretty amazing!

On to the pictures.

The wife snapped this one of me while I was blowing the dead grass onto the driveway to collect it.

I wasn't having much luck with the mower, as it was sucking up a lot of soil, and getting clogged. I can say that the Snapper does really suck. I wound up gathering most of it up by hand, and hauling to my debris pile in the backyard. My wife told me it was time to wash up, and as she did, I heard the rumble of thunder. Mother Nature decided that she was going to delay any further progress. That was fine, as I was ready to call it a day. My drag mat was scheduled to arrive on Tuesday, and I wanted to chill for the day.

 

[Colonel K0rn]

Well, not really; a drag mat does wonders when you're establishing/renovating a yard, as I found out. Tuesday, I received my drag mat, and gave it a spin around the yard. It works great, and did a good job at gathering up some of the clumps of dead grass I missed with the blower. It also made the dirt yard I had look really nice!







In those last two pictures, Mother Nature decided to call a delay of activities, and sprinkle down some love juice from the heavens. It was a small amount of rain, less than 0.05" and I needed to get the amendments down prior to Wednesday, which was seed down day. I spread the first batch of gypsum and lime in the front and the rear, and called it quits for the day.

 

[Colonel K0rn]

I hope you guys are right, because I brought in 10 yards to level out most of the yard, and then I decided to go with 10 yards of compost for a nice seed bed and to topdress the Royal Bengal seed I chose. Work was pretty straightforward, but man, I really like the quality of the compost that my guys supply. They have a sod farm across the river, and have a pretty nice operation and make some really quality compost.





While the truck that was hauling the compost went to the dirt pit to pick up the sand, they did some rough grading to get the lot in better shape.


While they were working on the grading, I decided to throw down some compost and drag it on the hell strips. Works great! time to seed down baby!


I have a sneaking suspicion this won't be the last truckload of sand that gets brought to my property.


Yeah, I even let them use the drag mat on the sand!


So, with the nice layer of compost put down for a seed bed, and the sand leveled out as good as it could be, it was time to put the seed down.


A few trips around the yard, and I had them topdress with compost to cover.

When we were at this point, I heard the rumble of thunder, and I had been keeping an eye on the sky. We were all moving quickly to get the other side spread out and broadcasted before any precipitation were to fall. I'm pretty sure the left side of the yard is going to be REALLY green.


After I stroked the check, sure enough, it started sprinkling... I knew that we had rain in the forecast, but not a high amount of rainfall expected, <0.10, which is fine by me.


I really think that nature just likes with me. I did get a nice rainbow, which was a nice way to end the day... almost. I had a half bag of peat moss left over from some potting projects, so I threw it onto some areas to act as a gauge to let me know how the moisture was in those areas. It really isn't going to dry out, as I'm going to babysit this yard for the next week! Had to get the water hoses out and get it damp! Man, the compost holds a LOT of water.

 

[pennstater2005]

That is some serious prep work! Looks great!!

 

[cnet24]

This is looking great- good call on bringing in the top soil and sand to level, especially when considering your previous pics of a flooded front yard. I think you are going about this the right way in terms of soil testing, amendments, and leveling before throwing seed down. I know that up here in Atlanta we are maybe slightly past the seeding window due to the long germination rates for bermuda- hope you have an extended summer in Savannah to help out!

 

[Colonel K0rn]

That is some serious prep work! Looks great!!

Here's hoping it works out. I woke up this morning dreaming I had a huge thunderstorm, and major washout on both sides. Your reno is looking good too.

This is looking great- good call on bringing in the top soil and sand to level, especially when considering your previous pics of a flooded front yard. I think you are going about this the right way in terms of soil testing, amendments, and leveling before throwing seed down. I know that up here in Atlanta we are maybe slightly past the seeding window due to the long germination rates for bermuda- hope you have an extended summer in Savannah to help out!

Thanks. Looking at the CPC from the NWS, the prediction for the next 3 months is 50% for higher than normal temperatures. Last Christmas, it was warm and we were wearing short sleeve shirts and shorts if that's any indicator. I think it has to do with the El Nino/La Nina cycles that take place on the left coast. I've usually seen that affect the weather over here. Plus we didn't have a good freeze last year, and the peach and orange crops were pretty wimpy. Either way, I needed to do the amendments, and seed is relatively cheap.

 

[dfw_pilot]

Wow, great work so far! I love to see that smooth bare dirt that been prepped. I'm also curious to see how the gypsum does with the water. Hope the reno is a success! Even if it stalls this fall, Bermuda will be hard to stop in the spring either way. Thanks for taking the time to write this all up! It seems that in lawn care, it's more about the journey than the final product.

 

[Colonel K0rn]

One of the things that I overlooked was the need for a lawn roller. I went to the Home Depot rental center last night, and rented a lawn roller for a day. I tried it out last night, but soon found out that the compost was still moist, and it started picking up seed, and topdressed compost, so I decided that I'd have to roll in the morning, once the moisture content had diminished slightly.

After a cup of coffee, I started the pushing and pulling. Unfortunately, the doc says I have to lower my cholesterol, so no bacon and eggs, but I can have them in spirit!


Since there is a slope on both sides, going sideways wasn't so bad. Uphill and downhill, not so much.




Once I got everything rolled out, it was time to set up the sprinklers, since I don't have irrigation installed yet. That'll be a project for next year.



It was pretty hot, so I decided to come inside and write this post. I'll be playing hose roulette for the next few weeks, which is fine. Just hoping that I don't get any substantial rainfall until the seedlings are established.

 

[Colonel K0rn]

I did a late-evening soak on the entire yard, knowing that there was a 30% chance of light rain overnight, with a 40% chance of thundershowers this afternoon. When I went outside and checked the rain gauge, 0.05" of rain had fallen overnight, and there were some spots that had washed away, which was acceptable. I'm sure this was because they were right by the sidewalk, and came down the slope on the right side of the yard. I decided I would go to Site One and get some compressed mulch pellets to help prevent some of the washing away, and reseed as necessary. I did look at some of the seed that was visible, and was surprised to see that I already had germination! :yahoo:



As I was about to leave, the clouds looked pretty ominous, and I was hoping it would pass me by, since I was headed South. Unfortunately, it started raining as I was about 2 miles from the house, and it continued to intensify.
Once I got to the interstate, it subsided, and I was stuck on the onramp to I-95 because someone hydroplaned on the on-ramp. I was thinking, "Man, I'm glad that's not me. He's having a pretty bad day, and that's a crappy way to start the weekend." I did my shopping at Sam's(gotta get more Gatorade), and then headed to Site One to get the pellets. I texted my wife and asked if it was raining there, and she replied, "Yes, I can hear it."


The drive home was uneventful, as I was rockin' some Guns 'n Roses on dry roads. I pulled into the driveway, and parked the van. My countenance fell as I looked out to the lawn, and was sickened by what I saw. :shocked:






This came into my head.

I sat in the van for a bit, and felt deflated, and contemplated what to do next. I did have another 10# of seed, but I sure didn't have enough mulch pellets to take care of all the damage that had taken place. I got out of the van, and carried some of my stuff inside, and asked my wife if she had looked outside. She said she had, and said, "I don't know what you did to piss the rain gods off." I told her that I needed a stiff drink, so I got a Mtn. Dew, and started writing this post. Mid-post, I went outside to check the rain gauge, and we received 0.60" of rain since last night. :shock:As I emptied the rain gauge, it started sprinkling again, and I said a few choice words, and went back inside. A few minutes later, I stepped onto the porch, and snapped this picture.


About 20 minute later, it was slightly sprinkling, and I checked the rain gauge: another 0.18" of rain.

On the positive side, where the hose was lying in the yard, it acted like a dam, and kept most of that seed in the yard. The parkway strips have held their seed completely with no washout, and along the edges the seed that I spotted that was germinating is still there. Most of the compost that was topdressed has washed down to the low spot on the right and left sides, and the side yard is underwater. I'm hoping that the gypsum that I broadcast prior to putting down any of the sand or compost will start to work, and help with the percolation. I'll just have to wait for the ground to dry out some, re-broadcast the seed, and hope that the forecast of no rain for the next week holds true. On the plus side, since most of the seed hasn't germinated, and started to root yet, there's really no big loss. It's going to be piled into the center of the yard. It's just nature's way of saying I didn't put enough down in the right areas. Plus I know where to put more sand down!

Sometimes in the face of adversity, it's best to find humor when you're frustrated. I'm lucky that I can do that most of the time. While I was looking at the front, and feeling like I had wasted all that time and effort, I quipped to my wife that I should have planted rice.

 

[Redtenchu]

Oh man...

 

[pennstater2005]

:shock: Whoa buddy. I wasn't expecting this post. I can't even complain about my little baby wash out I had. Good to see you found some humor in it. Not much else you could do about it.

Keep us posted on the re do and good luck Colonel!! :thumbup: