When Last We Left Our Hero . . .

Okay, I'm not a hero, but the rest of the title fits.

First, an apology. We were on vacation and, much as I was tempted to do so, I didn't let you know because a part of me is just uncomfortable with telling everyone that we won't be home in such a public manner as a blog.

We had a lovely time in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Then we came home and Bruce had periodontal surgery and I spent my time pampering him, which I enjoy doing. He deserves some pampering and he says I'm good at it. All went great with the procedure and this week he is back at work.

And I'm here.

Now, on to the events that you actually want to read about. 

Things are progressing wonderfully with the backyard remodeling.

Can you call redoing a yard "remodeling"?

Anyway, the patio that has replaced the old deck is almost finished.

Oh, wait! The last photos you saw there was still a deck there. Well, part of a deck still there.

Back up. Starting over.

Things are progressing wonderfully with the backyard remodeling. Bruce's work at tearing out the old deck, and the work of our good friend, Ray Saul, got the deck completely out in short order. It was with great joy that we discovered pea gravel already in place under the deck as that would be one less thing to have to purchase for the construction of the patio.

Ray Saul, a man with great amounts of experience in building various things, is our construction journeyman. I'll tell you right now, I'm pretty sure we would still just have a hole in the ground if Bruce and I had tried to go it alone with this.

This patio is now finished except for the last little bit of putting sand into the seams between the pavers. The sand acts like grout between tiles and helps keep the pavers from shifting out of place.

Here are some photos that tell the tale of putting in the patio - well, a lot of photos that show (not tell) the tale:

Ray figuring out where cinder blocks will go

Ray checking out the cinder blocks

placing the cinder blocks

wall partially in place

base wall finished, beginning of pilars

new concrete step

finished pilars for the "plant wall"

sighting through the pilars

all the pavers in the garage

laying the pavers

placing the last paver - for this patio

view from the back door

view through the plant wall

We also had to remove a tree in the backyard that was too close to the house. For that we hired Jason Wilcox, an expert tree-man. It was amazing to watch him work. Here's a few (really, just a few) photos of Jason taking down the tree.

Oh - and of course I missed the "TIM-BER!" shot. :-(

just getting started

about midway up

it was a hot job

at the tippy-top

final cuts in place

a job well done

Along the way I realized that I needed to change the original plans I drew up. For one thing, after being so careful to get everything just right, I had the measurement of the back of the house off by several feet. Then, the fact that the tree stump would be staying in the ground (though able to be covered up as it's cut flush to the ground) made it necessary to change the garden part of the plan a little. We also decided to put a concrete "curb" around the garden area instead of low cinder block walls (like around the patios), and I found out the curb could be installed curvy! 

Here is the new plan:

to correct scale now

That's it for now, and I'll be writing again soon - I promise. :-)