I recently reclaimed our backyard from a group of yellow jackets. In reality, they really had only taken over a small portion — they were in the corner of the yard, and we have a big backyard:

We have big plans for the backyard, but there’s so much work to do in the house that I seldom get outside to do it — and “it” is truly overwhelming.

The backyard has been terribly neglected: the leaves probably haven’t been raked in years. Trying to remedy that is how I initially discovered the yellow jackets’ nest.

But I can’t get outside because of all the problems inside. This week, the guest bathroom sink decided to develop a leak. Rather, three leaks. I fixed two of them, but in the process of fixing them, created the third.

The whole problem (taking all three as one larger Problem) is that whoever did the plumbing the first time had never heard of Teflon tape, hence everything was simply screwed in place and waiting for a leak.

It’s indicative of this house — most things seem to be done backwards. For instance, the insulation throughout the house is put in backwards, with the vapor barrier facing the crawl space instead of the floorboards. I can’t figure out how they did that one, since the vapor barrier has “This side to living area” printed in bold every six inches or so.

But it gives me plenty of little projects…