Retaining a Mess

For about a minute after the bobcat dug out the basement, our backyard was a flat, smooth dirt landscape -- a perfect litter box for all the neighborhood cats.

Now they've begun work on the retaining wall and the yard is a junk pile of miscellaneous construction supplies and demolition debris, including the remnants of plant overgrowth that seems to invade every backyard on our block because no one does any actual gardening. They just "grow" crappy little sheds that pop up like mushrooms over night.

We want to take out the existing fence, and top the retaining wall with pickets to match the front, but we want our neighbor to sign off that the existing chain link fence is ours. He's quick to say it's on our property, but not so quick to put that in writing. Fingers crossed that gets worked out soon!