dig a little deeper ...

"What do you think about a complete overhaul?"

"Ummm.  Depends on what you mean by 'complete overhaul' and whether or not you are talking about me or the house?  I wouldn't be opposed to some remodeling or redecorating in the house, but remember this summer we will have a ten-year-old child underfoot when your nephew stays with us."

"Yes, I was keeping that in mind and thinking it would be an interesting lesson in archeology."

"How do you mean? Are you talking about completely razing the house?  I was thinking you were just talking about redecorating the kitchen, not digging up the foundation or any major excavation work."

"Do you remember when we were in Ashland, Wisconsin and the city was putting in new waterlines?  They piled their excavated dirt in the lot next door and I noticed one day after heavy rains that there were pieces of salmon-pink broken pottery that were now exposed in the clay?"

"Yes, and you were like a kid in a candy store with a $100 bill.  You tracked in more mud and clay in a month than any of the dogs or I did in two years.  What are you thinking?"

"I'd like to build a small pond and water feature garden in the backyard to make a relaxing space. Kind of like our own secret garden.  If the work doesn't exceed the time he is here, it can maybe lead to some exploration of the soil for buried treasures.  This house was built in the early 1920s, and after the flood in 2016, who knows what might have been washed up and reburied in the yard."

"How deep of a pond are you talking about?  I don't want this to become a huge enterprise that involves a backhoe and thousands of dollars."

"Oh no, I was thinking maybe just two feet deep, by five feet long and three feet wide.  Just enough to keep him busy and interested.  I know that there are a lot of rocks in the soil, we can use those to surround the pond and keep the water pump equipment down.  I'd like it to become part of a backyard escape for us, but also be something that will attract the birds and maybe some other wildlife in the future."

"And how will we entertain him next summer when this project is done?"

"By then the pond will be working efficiently as its own biodiversity area with fish, frogs, tadpoles, and little microorganisms to watch under a microscope.  This summer will be archeology, next summer will be biology!"

Participating in Words on Wednesday here.