Steady rain all day here on Lawn-Guy Land. Just what I needed. I have

recently had a new cesspool system installed, which involved digging up the

entire front lawn. The guys did a great job, a _terrific_ job actually. I

watched the whole thing–it was like a well-rehearsed military operation.

(This was Antorino’s, a local family-owned business here in Huntington.

Great work, fellas–thanks!) Afterwards they cleaned up, re-planted one of

my wife’s trees they’d had to move, and leveled off the lawn. Re-seeding

the lawn is none of their business, though. Oh, we said, we’ll wait till

spring to do that, we can live with bare soil for a few weeks. Then came

the rain. Now my front lawn looks like the Ypres Salient. The kids are

guaranteed to traverse it in such a way as to accumulate the maximum amount

of mud on their shoes. Perhaps I should lay down duckboards.