mean people with power and the ability to spend our money

T met again with the neighborhood association on Saturday (I was out of town). They didn't want to just accept the architectural committee's recommendation. Oh, no! No, they had to put a time limit on us having matching roof materials. T negotiated for 10 years. Ugh. It could be worse. He said they were really pushing for 3 or 5 years.

T hopes that in the meantime we will get raises or better jobs or something. *sigh* Or that a hail storm will hit and the insurance will pay for the bulk of the roof change.

In the meantime it is raining here. Which worries me A Lot,, as water is pooling around the foundation, our gutter down drops are digging long holes in the ground. I've been pushing and pushing for landscaping to move the water away from the house. I'm not sure what else we can do besides dig out a shovel and try to do it ourselves one tiny shovel full at a time. 

splash blocks

Our last house had rain gutters, which I liked. At the bottom of each gutter down drop was a concrete block, splashing the dropping water out and away from the house.

Our new house has no such splash blocks. There are now canyons in the dirt leading away from our gutter down drops. This is A Bad Thing. We went by Home Depot and Lowe's and searched Amazon searching for splash blocks. Evidently they are now made of only plastic. Very light, very wind-blowable plastic. Amazon reviews said things like "Amazon claims it is supposed to weigh 4 lbs. It weighs less than a lb." and "I had to wedge rocks under and around it to keep it from blowing away." I'm surprised they can get away with that here, what with the wind and hard rains. We want concrete splash blocks that will firmly stay in place. But....we can't find any. We've tried searching the websites of local hardware and housing supply stores. They also only have the plastic ones.

Got any suggestions?