Finally!

April the giraffe has finally had her baby, and I have finally gotten rid of that giant pile of concrete in my back yard. 

I guess it's true what they say.  The fifth time is the charm. 

Yep, I've been trying to get rid of that mess for a year and a half, and I've had four other people previously say they'd haul it off for me.  Let's see...I advertised it in the local freebees group and one lady said she wanted it for her dog kennels.  She did come get some of the smaller pieces, but never came back for the rest.  Another lady said she wanted what the first lady didn't get, but she never showed up at all.  Then the tree guy said he'd haul it off, but he didn't.   Then another guy said he was doing some construction in this area, and he'd haul it off with his construction scrap, but he never came back and got it. 

I was beginning to despair of ever having a yard again, when a couple of weeks ago, someone posted on one of the local Facebook pages asking for rocks or dirt to fill in what she called "a failed attempt at a storm shelter."  Immediately, I replied that I had some scrap concrete that she could have for free.  All she had to do was get someone to come get it.  She said, "Free is good!"

Today at work, as I was sneaking up to check on April the giraffe, I got a message from her saying they were coming to get it today.  I replied that I was at work, but they could come get it anyway.  It's a giant pile of concrete in the back yard.  You can't miss it.

All the rest of the day, I kept telling myself not to get my hopes up, having been disappointed so many times before.   I was on my way out the door, when the second shift supervisor stopped me and asked me could I stay a couple of hours.  "We've got 40 ADP people out today, and that's not even counting the EMI (temps)."  So, I stayed until 5:00 PM.  For some reason, they won't let me stay longer than a 12 hour shift. 

The first time they told me that, my reaction was, "Um, you do remember that I used to be in the NAVY, right?" 

After quite a long day at work, I came home to find that April had had her baby -- a boy -- and the people had indeed come and gotten all that concrete.

Rylea doesn't quite know what to make of that big, empty space.

I still need to get out and rake up all the rocks and tiny chunks of concrete left, but to quote Madea, "hallelujer praise da lort"  it's finally gone.

Now, I just need to take care of that giant honking pile of wood and I'll have a back yard again.

Finally.