The title of today's post is: More Than You Could Possibly Ever Wish to Know About My Front Yard. (Catchy, no?)

So, below is a shot of the major problem we are dealing with. As you can see, there is a newly-poured staircase squatting right in the middle of a dirt-covered slope. The dirt in question constantly crumbles off the slope (as dirt tends to do) and ends up on our nice, newly-paved driveway.
Now, the whole point of paving the driveway was....wait for it.....NOT to have a driveway full of dirt.
So, we've got a problem.

Our answer to this problem was to hire a local landscaper to fix up the situation. I will not, because of my love and affection for my readers, go into the gruesome details of this. All I will say is, that if you knew what I've been through with this guy over the last month and a half, your brains would explode.
I know mine have.
Suffice it to say, we paid an advance in mid-April and he just finally showed up YESTERDAY to start working.
The idea is that he's going to dig back into the slope and then put boulders along it. Then he'll fill in with dirt and plants to make it look spiffy.
Here he is (finally!) industriously digging away:

It just so happened that I was out taking a few pictures for my blog (and for JP, who is in Bamako right now and is missing all the fun), when there was almost a Tragic Yet Hilarious Incident.

There he was:

When suddenly:

The backhoe took a nosedive off the top edge and down towards the pavement. It looked like it was going to tip right over. I don't have a close-up of this moment, as I was more concerned about having to call emergency services (What's the number for the paramedics again? 18? Or is that the fire department? Or poison control? 17? 15? Oh merde! )

but the guy's face had a look of deep concern that one might venture to have called "pure panic".

Somehow, though, he managed to get the bucket into place in time and push himself back up.
If I would have had a video camera with me and the thing had gone over, I SO would have sent it to "France's Funniest Home Videos".

Or at least YouTube.

Despite his entertaining and clown-like antics, he did manage to make some progress:

And he's back again this morning, attacking a few other problems we have in our yard (which you'll soon be well-acquainted with, don't worry). The backhoe is rented for just a couple of days, so he'll get all the digging done today and then start in on the other work by Monday.

So, expect more thrilling photos of dirt very soon...and maybe there will even be some big rocks to go with it!