Precious dirt

Do you consider dirt precious? Call me shallow because I was one of those people who never really appreciated good, old fashioned dirt. Shame on me.

Hurricane Ivan wreaked havoc with homes on the island that were in low-lying areas or were not built on sufficient fill. Decisions homeowners made when building ultimately determined whether water would pour in or whether their beautiful floors would remain in tact. That's a pretty big decision. Mr. Big and I are fortunate enough to know (with hindsight, of course) that homes with foundations at 7ft above sea level did not have flooding in our area. So we decided to add 2 feet of fill for comfort and voila, our foundation was to be 9 ft above sea level.

Or so we thought...until we got the bill for 1 ft of fill...and started wondering if our home will look too high compared to our neighbors...and then thinking about how we will need extra landscaping.

For the past few weeks, we must have looked like cartoon characters walking around with bubbles over our head. "8 ft or 9ft? 8 ft or 9 ft?" Honestly, how are we going to get this house built if every question feels like this?

In the end, we decided on 9 ft. This has felt like the right height for quite some time. And since the cistern has hit the street, I don't feel quite as guilty about the cost of one extra foot of fill.


So now you might understand how pleased we were to venture to the land and find...the fill...the answer...in all its glory. Ok, it's only dirt, but it's precious dirt.