So-my-god

Reason number 5,926 for Why it is Good to Have a Small Home:

Sod.

Sod rocks our world, my friends. I hope that one day, you too will have the divine opportunity to turn your dirt yard into a soft, lush, green, green, green slice of heaven on earth.

Amen.


As you can see, Nicholas ond Avery Cain are thrilled to be able to do their Jedi Training in the new yard - very important business for nine-year-old boys. And, the real reason why we took on this project :o)

It runs downhill

The back yard saga continues, but the end is in sight!

Part three, diversion drain
There is a natural grade in the yard that runs right into our house. By installing a drain at the first low point of the grade (about the center of the yard), we hope to divert the water through a pipe and onto the street. Currently, the water goes into the basement. Of course, Bob already has one of these, so all we had to do was tap into his line.

We purchased enough perforated flexible pipe, drain caps, weedblock and gravel (thanks, Phil!) to build the drain from our yard, through the neighbors and into Bob and Sue's exisiting line. Then, we dug. 12 inches down, 12 inches across. This was not fun.

Once everything was installed, we covered it up with dirt and pondered: We spent two weekends working on a project, that, when all is said and done, we will never see and therefore will never be impressing to our family and friends. Hm.

Pound puppy

Part two, new back fence
We had to keep the super pooch in the yard, so the new fence had to be installed ASAP. Jase picked up a couple pieces of fencing from Home Depot. After consulting with Bob (he knows *everything*), he installed the new fence pieces and a gate. It looks lovely - and Cinder is contained :o)

Also, in the photograph you can see where we started laying out the vegetable garden - yummm! The little barrier wall is built out of reclaimed materials; bricks from our chimney and wood from my parents old garden.

Disclaimer: Any fencing and decking we do from here on out will be with more environmentally-sound materials. We've used that grey recycled plastic composite lumber from Home Depot before, but Laura recently turned us onto Trex, which I think is our preferred material moving forward.