I did something that turned out to be the opposite of what I should have done.  When I moved in here last July or August, I was standing out in the front yard trying to decide what to do about five or six huge Burford Holly bushes in my front yard that had completely overgrown the foundations of the house.  

Retired fellows on the street began gather and give suggestions as to what to do.  "I want them out.  Gone," I told them, "But they're too deep to did out." One of the men asked.  "What are you going to do?" 

"I need a chain and a pickup to hook them up and pull them out," I said. One of the men volunteered that he had a truck and chains.  He left and returned and three of the guys proceeded to rip all of the hollies out.  Men like to rip stuff out.  Job done.  I was really thankful and went to Lowe's and bought shrubs and redid the flower beds.  They looked great.  I was pleased.

Fast forward to the first week in April of this year when I turned the sprinkler system on.  Nothing happened.  Seems as if it had been over twenty years since the hollies were planted and their roots had completely enwrapped the electrical system of the sprinkler system.  So when they were pulled out by the pickup, all the wiring was destroyed.  Torn to pieces.  Oh, well, I probably would do the same thing all over again.  The hollies were six to eight feet high and awful.

But the system had to be completely redone.  Which was expensive.  Very expensive.  When you buy a house, you never know what the expenses will be.  I've moved enough times that I have a good idea, but I wasn't expecting to have to completely redo the sprinkler system.  I'm now waiting on the other shoe to drop.  I wonder what it will be.  I did get all the new shrubs 75% off. It was last August--I had no idea if shrubs planted in August would live or not.  They did.  The savings will cover the sprinkling system??  I think I'm just justifying the cost of the destructive mess I made ripping out shrubs.