For my birthday, I asked for a day of yard work from my family. The kids were shocked. “…for your birthday?!” But yes, I have been so excited to get going on our outdoor projects. As Haley aptly remarked, “We moved into the inside, but now we need to move into the outside.”
 |
| Birthday yard work party – all of the front weeded! |
Then this weekend, the real fun started. Jim took Friday off and worked on this mess. He pressure washed and dug out and moved the fire pit and a bush and a stone bench and some pots… and then Saturday we finished it off with pea gravel and had our inaugural fire. Hooray!
My dad’s friend Dave graciously, amazingly, spent a day at our house with his backhoe. We have really been looking forward to tearing out the kidney bean-shaped island of trees and bark in the middle of our otherwise decent sized backyard. So bright and early Saturday morning, the fun began.
 |
| Jim limbed trees while Dave took over 20 yards of dirt out of our yard! Good thing we have a greenbelt we can move dirt into. |
By lunch time, we were ready to spread bark. I had finished planting bulbs and spreading weed preventer granules, and my niece Ali had finished trimming all the front hedges. I was in charge of bark delivery. I’m glad we live five minutes from the landscaping place!
By the end of Saturday, our backyard became a lot different (before view on bottom).
And I had spent all week (2-3 hours a day, every day, thank you Lord for beautiful weather) slowly tearing out ornamental grass and moving flagstone, so Saturday it was finished!
Jim helped tame this section… we’re going to concrete the rocky area under the barbecue.
I moved the heather from this hill to another location and the kids moved two wheelbarrows full of rocks, and then Dave and his backhoe took care of the rest. Viola! Ready for grass and a southern-facing location for my garden box (maybe a larger garden? stay tuned…).
Hey look – now I can see my house from my own backyard! We had friends over for dinner on Saturday evening, and it was so nice to try out the new fire pit location and enjoy more sunshine in a bigger space.
This morning as the sun was coming up, I noticed how much brighter the backyard felt. Oh yes, it’s because those bushes and trees weren’t blocking it from hitting the yard. Hooray!
Jim also dug out the front left corner (barely visible here) because it was too far gone to be simply weeded. We left the three azaleas but edged the lawn and spread fresh bark over the entire front, plus planted new flowering evergreen annuals closer to the house. Jim also dug out an old tree stump that had decomposed and left a little lump in the yard. Now it’s flat and weed-free, and we can plant grass to fill it in.
To top it all off, Jim installed a new light fixture in the reading room. It is a formal dining room, but we’re not using it that way and I didn’t like the chandelier anyway. Now we have a modern light that better matches our style, and you don’t have to duck when you walk in the room. Very cool!
Why only Phase 1, you ask? Because this weekend we will finish the bark (the driveway to the shop) and spread gravel over all the walkways that Jim removed the old rock from. Then Phase 3 will begin once the backyard is level and the branches are gone, because then we need to expand the existing sprinkler system and bring in top soil, seed, and peat moss. Finally, once it’s been warm for awhile this summer, I’ll stain the fence. It’s going to be awesome when it’s done!
The Keene Family 