Posts Tagged ‘landscaping project’
Reality Returns
We now return you to regularly scheduled programming. While reliving the wonders of our time in Iceland and recovering from post-travel illnesses, real life has resumed with a landscape update project around the front of our house.
We had to wait all summer for my favorite concrete lifting company to fit us into their schedule, which put our re-landscaping of the front walkway on hold. As soon as they finished their work, Cyndie and I dug into finishing what we could of the project while coughing our lungs out.
With the concrete slabs returned to their original level with a positive slope away from the foundation, we added some gravel and set about replacing the stone slabs of the rustic entry walkway that won us over when we bought the place.
The finishing touch of a fresh fill of new river rock is awaiting another contractor who happily promises but fails to act in a timely fashion. We are relying on our patience to maintain that relationship with a guy who has helped us many times over the years. He eventually gets around to showing up.
I am feeling back to my old self and am surprised that my lungs seem back to usual (which has never been that great) faster than expected after pneumonia.
This weekend, I am home alone with the animals while Cyndie is with friends up at the lake. The horses are doing great. Asher is whining at me incessantly.
Yes, reality has returned in all its glory.
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Saving Money
Last spring I contacted four landscape companies asking for quotes on upgrading our front walkway area which has settled to such a degree it doesn’t properly drain water away from the house anymore. Two of the four responded and showed up to submit a quote. It was good to hear some of their thoughts about possible solutions but the costs were a real shock.
They came in at $11K and $8K to remove what was there and replace it with a new finish.
I decided to do a much more minimalist fix using DIY labor.
We have nibbled away at the project over a very long span of months but the last few days of Cyndie’s boundless energy has increased progress significantly.
We knew there was a concrete sidewalk beneath all that stone but we just didn’t know how much. The bad news is that the concrete had settled in the wrong direction for draining water away from the house.
It occurred to me yesterday that we could hire a concrete lifter to solve that part of the job. We’d need to spend some money on that but it would be a lot less than the cost of total replacement. Then we would be able to more easily finish the re-installation of the slabs and river rock ourselves. Think of the money we’ll save!
I sure hope my body will be up to the task. A shoulder injury I’ve been dealing with for months has recently flared up to a degree that has me questioning the ultimate success possibilities of my self-healing routine. I was enjoying slow increments of improvement that gave me hope prior to a few instances where use caused new pain and loss of strength.
On top of that, for good measure yesterday I dropped some boards on my foot and gave myself a painful contusion.
I was able to toss 80 bales of hay last night without much in the way of limitations, so I’m optimistic my abilities won’t be too much of a problem.
I’ve started watching the 2nd installment of Netflix’s NFL series, “Receivers” and it has me wishing I could have the immediate attention of trainers and physical therapists like professional athletes have.
Of course, by not having them, think of all the money I’m saving!
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Unattended Digging
Yesterday, while Cyndie and I were working in the front yard, she leashed Asher to a tree nearby. It just so happened to be in the spot where he had already been digging a few days before. I didn’t argue. We figured that he had already made a mess of things there, so there was nothing left worth protecting.
Cyndie was digging up ferns to transplant them and I was trimming a limb that was hanging over the roof. Asher was digging.
We started pulling up some of the flagstone slabs and stacking them on a pallet. We experimented with screening out river rock from dirt and debris.
It is all preliminary tinkering before fully diving in to seal the foundation and then re-grade the dirt before laying slabs back down and finishing with river rock.
As I was cutting off the branches from the limb I brought down, Cyndie hollered that Asher had reached a gas line.
“He what?!”
Oops. That’s not a root across that hole he dug.
I think he got a little carried away. We are going to need to find a better place for him to go wild with his digging. I’m thinking maybe the middle of the woods. We probably should have made that “call before you dig.”
I sure am glad he didn’t start gnawing on that copper tube like I’ve seen him do to roots that get in his way.
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Relative Something 