Patio at 95%!!!

Sorry about the slow posts. I basically blazed through the retaining wall portion to the end. I guess I had momentum! The wall took about 3 hours to place to about 20" high, then I began the backfill and drainage pipes inside the wall. A lot more gravel and breaking up and removal of the old sod. Unfortunately, I still have about 2 yards of dirt left over. Not sure where that's going yet. I finished the wall with 2" of gravel for drainage of the planter, then 6" of topsoil, followed by landscape fabric for weed control, then 2 more inches of topsoil. I then planted the assorted perennials and grasses, finished off with some western red cedar mulch to cover.

Overall this project has not been too difficult. A lot of moving dirt and repositioning piles, but other than a sore back a few days, very rewarding to do since we saved a fortune doing it ourselves. I'll know some tricks if I do this next time to make it easier, and I will definitely know how to estimate materials usage better (I ran out of gravel 2 times!). Although it is only about 30' long overall, we moved over 15 yards of material around.

The final touch is to finish a path to the side yard. That I will save for next weekend I think. Don't want anyone to think I am too ambitious.

Book to Read: The Last Season by Eric Blehm - An excellent story of a back country ranger in Sequoia/Kings Canyon Park. Very well written.

Patio Done!

After 3 long weekends, thousands of pounds of dirt, gravel, and pavers being dug, shuttled, and set, we finally have our patio. Angie and I are both amazed at how it came out. While it's still a homeowner special, it did come out pretty clean overall. I began setting pavers Friday evening at about 6:30 and worked until the bugs came out in force at about 8:30. Zach assisted by carrying pavers from the wheelbarrow to me while I leveled sand. We started again first thing Saturday AM and had the pavers in and joints begun to be filled by 4PM-Just in time to get to Zach and Noah's premier in Snow White. After a grueling day it was a blast to see them in costume on stage! More on that in another post...

Next up is the raised flower bed along the patio. More back-breaking work but quite a reward at the end!

Tip of the week: Use a 1/8 oz. spinner when catching trout - 1/2 rips their mouth apart!

Weekend #2 - Patio

The patio project took a major turn this weekend. We filled the mud pit with gravel, compacted it, layered it again, compacted it, leveled it, then compacted it once again. By now I was beat and my legs were tired. We started the day at about 9am and finished about 8pm. With Noah and Zach filling the wheelbarrow while I did the gravel leveling and compacting, we managed to to get the borders in and map the pavers. Unfortunately, I cannot load 3k pounds of pavers into the Tahoe, so I waited till Sunday morning to find the quarry and see if they could deliver. No such luck. I decided that my aching bones had enough for the day so we went to PDX for some fun on 23rd. I figured I'd run to Mutual Materials on Monday and buy the pavers at wholesale a lot cheaper anyway. Guess what? They cost more there. They do this on purpose to channel their retail sales through their retailers. Pretty smart I guess. In the end, I went to HD and laid down the cash for the stones and sand. They should be delivered this week, at least by Friday. I can probably get the thing done Saturday assuming we have good weather.

Tip of the Week: goto www.askamexican.net for some seriously excellent interracial education!