Saturday, April 5, 2008 was a mild-weather day on a weekend when we were actually home to make use of it. Starting about 9:00 or so, we both got out in the back yard to prepare it for realizing the vision sent to us by Kelly. In the photos below, you will see what we were doing all day, and why, after it was all finished, we could hardly straighten up. We are getting too old for this kind of non-stop work. Below you will see Leslie outlining one of several garden spots that Kelly suggested. [All pictures enlarge by clicking within them.]
While Leslie was working adapting old concrete pavers which I had poured many years ago, I was working on the north area between the retaining walls, an area filled with rocks, pebbles, and other fill dirt. I broke up the ground with the pitchfork and then raked it. Below you see me about half the way through the most back-breaking work I have done in a long time. When I was finished, I had raked so many stones and concrete chunks that Leslie had enough to pack the bottom of the fence on the south side, next to the apartments next door. The wood and roots nearly filled a trash can.
While Leslie was shooting a picture of me, the mailman walked by and asked if we would like him to take a photo of the two of us. We said sure, and the result is below. After I went over to retrieve the camera from him, the wheelbarrow tilted Leslie back on to the ground. Fortunately she wasn't hurt.
Below is a closeup of the work I was doing. The turned ground is to the left, and the undisturbed ground is to the right. Because of the recent heavy rains, the ground wasn't too difficult to work, though many times I hit a large stone or piece of concrete, or a big clod of vinca underground. That's what made it so back-breaking. If I had waited to work the ground till it was fully dry, it would have been like working concrete. Leslie discovered that working over where she was.
Below you see a picture of another area Leslie worked, around the garage doors. Here again, she's recycled pavers to outline a bed on the left, and to serve as a walkway out of the garage. Until Saturday, the ground outside the doors was bare, which meant mud during rainy weather.
Below is a photo of the bed that Leslie was working on in the earlier picture I took. It looks quite nice. We can't wait to get some topsoil in there.
Now we arrive at our last picture, this time of the sundial sitting in a circle of recycled bricks. The picture also shows the outline of the area, according to Kelly's design. Within the outline there will be gravel, except for the beds. This means very little of the back yard will need to be mowed in the future. However, I am sure that some areas will have to be mowed and that it will be harder to get to them.
The next Saturday we get out we will bring in some topsoil and gravel. After that, the yard should look pretty good. Then it will be time to plant.
There's a lot of work ahead, including finishing staining and painting on both garages, where the bare wood is. This will take us far into the spring!
Forgot one last picture, which should have been above. This is what the area I worked looked like after I finished. We were just too tired to pick up the clods and rocks I had raked. That will have to wait for another day.
Here's one view of what we worked on in the back. Dale had already picked up a load of dirt from Ozark Nursery on Friday afternoon. We unloaded that Saturday morning, then headed to the recycling center to pick up a truckload of mulch that the city gives away. That place was a madhouse, with Earth Day activities going on--lots of people there to unload their recyclables and participate in other special events. We got some pretty decent mulch and a free compost bin. After unloading the mulch, we went back to Ozark Nursery for another 2 scoops of topsoil. They were cooking hamburgers and hot dogs for their customers, so we had lunch there. We spent the rest of the day shoveling dirt and mulch and planting a few things. Our backs were killing us, so we quit about 4:30, took showers, and crashed. There's still so much to do! But at least it's looking better. A neighbor was out walking with his children, and he told me that he really liked what we'd done. Ahhh, we like hearing that!
