Patio!

It's been a while since we posted. It's been a long semester and longer "spring." And by "spring" I mean winter. But the sun has finally won out, the temps have reached the 70s, and it's yard work time!

First we had to take care of the unsightly space between our fence and the alley way. Solution: garden! Complete with some native plants and chips from the old tree from the front lot:

Alley fence garden, complete!

Finished garden - "before" picture of patio

Next up: patio. The above picture doesn't do it justice, but the lawn in front of the kitchen slider was a mess - collecting water/mud, totally uneven from the box elder roots, and generally ugly. Totally unsuitable for the grand yard-sitting time we have planned for the warm months.

Step one: Sod must go!

Why so sod, lawn??

The pictures don't do the work justice. Sod's freakin' heavy, man.

Done with step 1.

Pile o' sod

 Step 2: Level 'at &%^$. 10 wheelbarrow loads of rock and dirt later...

Bunch a dirt had to go!

Step 3: Now that it sloped gently away from the house... Time to form it up.

With a little help from my friends. Well, one friend. Thanks, Richard!

Finished form, ready for some mud.

Step 4: Pour it.

Now it involved friendS! Thanks Richard and Kadin!

Step 5: Knock them forms off.

Takin' shape!

Step 6: Reslope and relay sod. And there isn't a picture, but we laid all the extra sod on the far side or our side fence so we've got a little extra lawn over there now.

Sod relaid

Step 7 will be a mixture of planting a garden along the fence and building some sort of raised beds/storage/bench/spice garden thingamabob along the garage wall.

Step 8 will involve beers and sun and may come before Step 7....

Come hang out on our new patio!!