Thank you for the response so far. I am new to all of this... but basically the house faces in a SE direction so the side of the house is a South to south west direction. The downspout dumps out about 2 feet from the property line and when there is heave rainfall it runs towards the front of the lot along the property line. This water is joined by the water that is dumped from the sump. During July we were very fortunate(uncharacteristically sp?) to get a lot of rainfall and my property line had roughly 2 inches of standing water when you stepped in the ground around the downspout and sump pump discharge area. When its relatively dry out there is no standing water but the ground is moist. No matter what route I go I will be running a rock type bed from the pump towards the front of the house I think. This will divert any major rainfall from causing problems on my neighbors property, plus he has a significantly higher grade than I do. My rambling is done I think. This is kind of like a thinking out loud session. Thank you everyone. Now I need to find a "Rainfall" rock scape concept to build around the sump pump discharge pipe. IF anyone see's something similar to this let me know and grab some pics please.

Ditto about goggles while weed whacking  also wear work shoes (not sandals) and preferably long pants. Take the time to reach for the right tool. Last year I bruised a tendon trying to pull a bunch of tough weeds with my bare hands. I often get poison ivy cleaning brush without gloves. Stand back and keep your legs out of the way doing any sort of chopping or slashing. Trim fence wires close or bend them back so that they can't poke or scratch. Kneel to do close-to-the-ground chores (weeding, harvesting, deadheading, catching slugs) rather than bending over and straining your back. Wear long pants so that you don't scrape your knees. (Always have a few pairs of pants that are clean enough to wear and unfancy enough that you don't mind getting the knees wet and muddy.) Check for bees before deadheading or picking flowers.

" Believe me, I thought about it. But about a year after I moved in the county took it upon themselves to dig out the trenches to improve stormwater flow. I'd hate to put all that money and time into planting ground cover or putting stones down, only to have them come out with a mini excavator and tear it up. So while re-grading it, I made sure I dug it out deep enough before putting sod down, so they would have no reason to ruin it." You did right by digging it out deeper but I would have put down rock rather than sod. Nice place by the way. "I must have dug that thing out once a month. I did the brickwork immediately after moving in to keep my driveway from getting washed out. By the time I had sense to stop trying to grow grass in sand and put sod down, the labor involved in mowing the ditch (which was graded specifically so that it would be possible with the tractor) was nothing compared to constantly digging and raking the washouts. Mowing it with the Deere is really no problem at all. Maybe I'll post a video when I suck up the leaves in a month or so (which ALL collect in the ditch). It definitely pushes the tractor to its limits, but as long as the grass isn't wet (and I never cut it wet), she grabs the turf and climbs out every time." Nice job on the brick work. I saw your video. Make sure you don't turn over/ flip. I saw at the end you had the tires off the ground. Would your town let you connect pipes upto the one that goes under your driveway along your property and then just fill dirt over the pipes so you have flat ground ? - Kris

I have broken my leg and had to lay there till hubby came home!arg! AND another time I broke my tailbone, so now I am told by hubby: TAKE YOUR CELL PHONE!!!! I pack it in a apron if I don't have another pocket...I like wearing sweat pants and tshirt, so those barmaid aprons I scoop up at the thrift store are great! I am slowly getting some gravel down on the paths I am building, I even have it so I can get a wheelbarrow down there now! As long as I use small loads that don't get away on me!!! ARG! Ya, forgot about those trips with runaway landscaping blocks...NEVER walk in front of a heavy load!!! ha!