WE HAVE GRASS!!!!

Today we had the sod laid. I am so excited, i was getting tired of all the dirt being tracked in. Hopefully we will have enough warm days that it will take root. It is borderline for getting it down but I just did not want all that mud in the spring if we did not. So hopefully it will be ok.

We are pretty much done doing things in the backyard until next year. Then it is a walkway out to the sewing room and play houses for the Grandkids.

Fence

Next came the Fence on the west side of the yard. Lynn and Whitney put up most of it one Saturday and then Lynn and I finished it the next saturday. We just used the existing metal posts from the chain Link fence, used some brackets that they make for that to screw the rails to and then screwed the planks to that. it is a little wobbly so the neighbor is putting 4x4's on his side inbetween the metal posts to make it alittle more stable. It is nice to have a little more privacy. Lynn thinks it makes the yard look smaller but we like it alot.

Sprinkler System

So we decided that while we had the pipe puller for the sprinkler system, we would do the front yard and the back. Mike and Lynn pulled most of the pipe one evening, then Mike put in the heads in the front yard. Lynn ( with a little help from me) put in the heads in the backyard. It will be so nice to not have to drag hoses around and have it take all day to water the lawn.

Besides the other things we have been doing around the house, we decided it was time to redo the kitchen table, we striped the old varnish off the top and refinished it, and painted the legs a taupe color. so now we have a new table. we like it and it looks really good

Back Yard Update

Dad really did not want those fence posts to go any where


roots, roots, and more roots


this is a root not a tree limb, but as big around as a limb

tractor we rented from Mike's former boss

So you can see by the pictures, we have been having lots of fun at our house. You know how it seems like every home improvement you want to do ends up being bigger that you thought. Well our neighbor through the alley from us has always sold wood for a living and so getting his big truck in and out of his wood pile he ran into our fence several times. So he quit doing it last year so we decided it was time to put in a new fence. Well one thing led to another and we decided before we could do that or change our patio to a deck we better replace our sewer line. Because nowing our luck we would get the other things all done and would have to do it anyway. We have had sewer issues for a few years now and knew that at some point it would need to be replaced. So this last friday (July 16) we did it. Thanks to the help of a good family member that is a plumber we go the job done. Now we get to spend the rest of the summer putting our backyard back together. We are going to remove the remaining grass, put in a sprinkler system, a new fence, and a deck. The deck may not get done until next year if the funds run out. We will post pictures of the progress.