I’ve taken to drinking sloe gin. Except it’s spelled s-l-o-w around here, just like the work on the sewer pipe.

After serious delays due to weather – we can’t curse the rain that came in mid-late November since Texas has long been in a serious drought (but oh how I would like to) – the city moved the pipe and constructed a new manhole. Typed out, it seems all easy-peasy, but reality is far different.

Step One: Digging out the old pipe.

Laying new pipe.

ACTION SHOT!

I’m pretty sure the workers loved this project. Mother Nature filled every hole they dug with water – either from rain above or the springs below. There were some days they couldn’t pump the water out fast enough. That’s gotta be fun, right?

They had the added pleasure of dealing with leveling system for the pond, too.

They dug out the old incorrectly placed manhole…

(who knew they were so big?)

…and built a new one in the proper location.

After about three weeks of work, they started wrapping things up.

Ta-da! Here’s the new manhole in its permanent home. It’s such a relief to have this bit of work finished.

We’re hopeful this arctic winter wonderland that settled in North Texas will move on by Monday so the builder can get on-site for foundation prep work. If you see me standing outside, dumping a full cocktail glass in the yard don’t worry – it’s just a sacrifice to Mother Nature in hope she’ll play nice for the next several months.

So why drink sloe gin – other than the obvious word play? Because it’s freakin’ fantastic! No, not that cloying concoction you remember from college – this new stuff is really good. I don’t know what they did to sloe gin in the 70’s/80’s/90’s, but several year ago Plymouth decided to do it right. They went back to their original 1883 recipe which involves macerating sloe berries (imagine tiny, tart plums grown on thorny bushes in the English countryside) with a bit of sugar in good gin. I can’t speak for other manufacturers, but Plymouth’s Sloe Gin has none of the artificial ‘fruit’ flavor covered in syrupy sweetness. It gets a thumbs up from me!

Here’s a recipe for a sloe gin cocktail that’ll make people who love SweeTARTS™ very happy:

Sloe/Slow Bramble

2 oz Plymouth Sloe Gin
2 oz “Regular” Gin
2 oz lemon juice
(you can add a bit of simple syrup if you want, but I found it sweet enough as is)