It all started because of Text messaging. I text a sister and she says sigh up for facebook we’re all on it. I’d been resisting for years, but though about it, I’d resisted texting too, (but have found it very handy as of late. Like sending dirty messages to Melissa, knowing full well she’ll probably read this before she gets it.) So I figured I’d give it a shot, at the very least I could see what the sibling were up too since THEY NEVER CALL! :-) So that was an experience, It was like watching the theory of six degrees in action. I definitely no longer have a hectic life as I was completely dumbfounded by the shear chaos of the page layout at first glance. I got used to it quickly. I figured I ought to say something, but I have nothing to say in a quick blurb, so I figured I’d upload the photos here instead. So on to
Last year we Accidentally started this years project (damn Lowes and their $50 off cards!) Melissa wanted a courtyard area to get some privacy on the warm side of the house, and a fence that would keep the dog in if she got out. I wanted to be able to see over the fence we would put up, and I wanted her to be able to so out also. We also needed to be able to adjust the gate as the ground heaved and dipped during the season changes. the solution was this.
The panels are bolted to the planter boxes so that they can be adjusted, I can see over the gate, she can see through the lattice, and it is on self closing, adjustable hinges. The dirt all came from the front easement we cleaned. That’s about as far as we got last year. The weather just wouldn’t cooperate.
This year, while the weather has held out we decided to get a lot a stuff done on the outside. It started with cutting down the rear fence to just tall enough that the dog couldn’t hop it. This eventually led to a redesign on a temp basis of the backyard. The eventual plan is to fill in around the house and set up a retaining wall where the easement is. This will give us what is basically a wrap around patio area. It is not a project I want to even attempt to do as we are talking about over 1200 cubic feet of dirt that will need to be brought in by hand. So for now we decided to to what we can with the area that isn’t getting drastically redone.
I repaired the rotting/pulling off the house front porch. I was able to rebuild it almost entirely from pieces of scrap I had from other projects. The only thing we had to buy was the decking and trim.
While I worked on that, Melissa pavered a little area on the side of the house to be used as the new walkway. At least it will be once I rebuild the stairs and a hand railing.
She even went out and purchased some flowers this year. We also decided to work on the front of the house where it ties into the neighbors. Our house is recessed from theirs so I get this little nook area. We decided it would be a good place to use some pavers that were lying about the house. I could then leave the giant recycle bin outside, freeing up room in the garage. when we got started we decided to just do the whole thing all the way around to the neighbors side and put up a small retaining wall to create a planting area. We are trying to grow cement.
Eventually we’ll get rid of all the cement that has been accumulating since before we moved in. I think it’s related to Moguai. It breeds with water. We now have at least a passable curbside view.
This past weekend we decided to do away with the shortened rear gate all together and we built a new dog fence. The dog now has a smaller area for me to clean up. (too bad she doesn’t poo any less)and we can bring her out to the side yard to play with us with out worrying about stepping in crap. We made the fence out of the posts from the 4-post bed we had built and torn down, two extra planter boxes that we were now not going to use, and some plastic mesh (that we had to purchase) To combat the ground shifts we just uses mailbox post mounts which we had from a planter box/retaining wall that we destroyed the summer before.
Oddly it doesn’t look all that bad. and it definitely open up the side yard.
Now I just need to finish up some of the other stuff so that I can get back to building the bookshelves for the library.