dirt and shoveling

I had mentioned before that we would start working on the yard after the kitchen was done. Well that time has come and I wish it was over. (I'm warning you this could be very boring but it is taking up my life right now and therefore is going up on the blog.)

We started with a bumpy front lawn and a vine/trash tree infested back yard. The back yard also sloped down on two sides, which was making the whole yard significantly smaller. Earlier this summer we had a concrete wall put up to hold up those two sides so that we could make the back yard much larger. Then we had a guy with a Bobcat and an Excavator grade everything.

You'd think then we'd be able to put down grass at that point but no. We've always had leaking water in the basement when it rains, so we started putting french drains all around the house a few weeks ago. What a job! We dug trenches, some 1 foot deep, some 2.5 feet deep, depending upon where they were. Then we lined those trenches with heavy plastic. Then we filled them a little with gravel. (Shoveling gravel is the hardest work I've ever done. I'm hoping I've lost at least 10 pounds by the end of this whole digging job.) In some of the trenches we put perforated pipe and then more gravel. Then landscape fabric and then dirt. We have just tonight finished the last of the french drains. Yippee!

But that only gets us to phase 2 of the project which is sprinklers. We are paying someone to regrade the front and back yards (again) and move the remaining gravel. This will cost a lot, and it's worth every penny. Then Dan E. will help us with the sprinklers. (Can't we just pay you to do them Dan E.?)

THEN we're laying sod. I'm not sure we'll even get to the back yard before it gets too cold. If not we'll do it in the spring and then add a fence. What fun a house is. Today I wish I lived in a condo where all the landscaping was beautiful and I didn't have to do any of it.