Almost there!!!

Today is Thanksgiving, and this is the first post I have made in a while. When we left to go to Atlanta for a few days, there was a lot left to do. When we came back, most of it was done. There are still a few odds and ends left, and a lot of bushes and trees to plant in the spring, but its looking great. Here are a few shots:

This is the view as you enter the yard from the side of the house on the new sidewalk.


This view is from the corner of the patio:


Here is the partially completed firepit. The pit itself still needs to be constructed, and there are two missing steps.

This shot was taken from the fire circle area looking back at the yard:

And finally, a shot of the patio from across the new grass:

More snow = getting nervous

Once again, my nerves are pinned in the red zone. The weather has really taken a turn towards winter, Brandon has missed the second set of target dates (although not by too much, considering the weather) and now we are getting ready to go out of town with work still to be done. This is the exact situation we wanted to avoid.

To make matters worse, he had the sod delivered on Saturday morning, without having the yard completely prepped. In fact the sprinkler system was just finished late on Saturday. Grading and top soil still needed to be done before it would be planted.

For Sunday, his tractor was broken down. so now its Monday... 48 hours after the sod delivery and the yard is not prepped, sod sits out on the street accumulating snow. It's supposed to snow more tommorow, before a high pressure moves in and it will be warmer and sunnier just as we head to Atlanta for the weekend.

I just hope he'll back up his work when it is all dead in the spring! Brandon takes a lot of pride in his work, which is something that is hard to find, and means he really cares... so I think it will work out.

The Challenge of November: Fresh Snow

Snow is not a word landscape and concrete guys like the hear. Last night we got some, the first of the year. It looks like 2 - 3" came over night and blanketed everything. Completion of our yard by November 11 is now looking less likely. This should melt off today, hopefully pretty quick this morning. This is the advantage of a south facing backyard. But more is coming for tommorow, and monday and tuesday of next week. Winter is here!

Rainy Day

It's the first day it has really rained since the project formally started. That's okay though, because all of the "hardscape" stuff has been completed, with the exception of a final coat of sealer on the patio.

Yesterday, work was done on the sprinkler system (to be finished today hopefully,) the yard was cleaned up and concrete curbing was set around the grass areas. You can see the curbing in the images below. This comes out of a specialized machine, and then is finished by hand.


Here is a shot of the entire yard. You can see it is all leveled out, and trenched for the sprinkler lines. The next things to be done are: complete sprinklers, bring in top soil, add sod. This should all be done by saturday. The flower beds and mulch areas will all use rock mulch. Why rock? It's so windy up here on the mountain in the winter, that we're concerned regular wood mulch will just blow away (like it did in the front yard.)

Second Day of Concrete: Pouring the Fire pit

Today was a busy one, and a lot got done. It was the second day the concrete guys were here, and today they poured the sidewalk, firepit and dog run, with standard grey concrete. I have a few pictures of the progress of the firepit, from form to complete.

In the first shot, you can also see the compeleted retaining wall:


Here is Ty working on the firepit mud. He did most of the work on this part of the project, and he did a remarkable job.


This is the completed patio surrounding the firepit, complete with symetric radial pattern:

Working on the Retaining Wall

Yesterday saw a lot of work completed on the retaining wall surrounding our future firepit. This is time consuming, tedious but detail oriented work as the rocks must be positioned perfectly. It looks like putting together a puzzle to me. Here is a shot of the beginning of the wall. Today I expect it to be completed.


One of the neat things about this retaining wall is the stairs. They will be made out of rocks, creating a very rustic feel. Here is a picture of the lower three stairs:


And another shot of the patio, which still appears to be getting lighter all the time. This is under an early morning mostly overcast/ hazy sky.

It is looking better all the time

I just got in from taking a couple more pictures of the patio. It is looking much less black now, which is a great relief.

Just compare this picture to the first ones I posted, and you will see what I mean. I think once they come back monday and add the additional top coat and sealant, it will look truly stunning.


Here is a closeup of the curved stairwell that was poured. This is great. We wish the faucet wasn't right next to the stairs, because this would have allowed wider stairs, without the big drop on either side, but this is a minor thing.