2004-01-13 9:25 p.m.
Dirt
I bought five bags of potting soil and used them to regrade part of the landscaping in front of my house. (The Drainage Guy said that this might help prevent water pooling under the house, along with the ass-ugly elephant trunks of PVC pipe I've put on all my downspouts.)
I smoothed it into a pretty slope, and then I waited a solid week for it to rain. The weather report promised me rain on Wednesday, then Thursday, and finally on Friday it delivered.
Well, sure, I could have wet it down with the hose. But that would have been cheating.