Tag Archives: Landscaping

Walkway – Before & After

Since our yard project was completed for now I’m sharing the before and after views before I share our great overnight getaway.

We had an unusual string of dry mild days in February and the beginning of March that gave us lots of time to work on some projects in our yard.

Before

First Phase…

Phase two in process…

Walkway done and now onto the extension and step down from the deck.

Before…

Digging, digging, chipping away at large tree root, digging some more and hauling off the dirt and grass…

Defeated the tree roots and moved on…

We are now getting to the end of this part of our project.

Chose a new planter box and planted some plants in the cement blocks.

Another before shot…

We are pleased with the results from all our hard labor over several weekends and evenings.

We still have a few more ideas for tweaking some things but for now we enjoyed a weekend without any labor. During our overnight away we probably put back on the weight we dropped working on this project. Looking forward to this first full week of Spring. What’s on your agenda?

A Day Off…

Thankfully today is President’s Day and Dear has the day off. We’ve been working and celebrating all weekend and our yard project continues today. I’ll be strapping on my back brace and helping Dear after my coffee. I’ll show you a little of what’s gone on this weekend already and I’ll show the complete before and afters of our yard project soon.

2015-02-15 V-Day projects1

On Saturday, Valentines Day, we headed to the Home Depot and bought what we’d need for the beginning of our yard project. We finished the first half of what we planned and will continue with the second half today.

2015-02-15 V-Day projects

On Sunday we took the day off from our project and after church we had a nice brunch/lunch with Josh and Laura catching up on a lot of what’s been going on in our lives the last few weeks. It was a good time filled with fun, laughter and some hard things, too. That’s life, isn’t it? After the kids left we changed up a bit and headed to downtown Seattle for our belated Valentine dinner at Morton’s Steak House.

Morton's1

The food was delicious and that Grand Marnier Souffle for two was a very nice way to end our meal!

I’ll end with a little tribute to one of the presidents we celebrate on this day, Abraham Lincoln. The quote is from Lincoln’s Devotional.

 

Communion with God 

 a Source of Joy

There be many that say, Who will show us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou has put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased. Psalm iv. 6, 7.

Lord, what is life? if spent with thee,
In humble praise and prayer,
How long or short my life may be
I feel no anxious care:
though life depart, my joys shall last,
When life and all its joys are past.

Hope your cares are few and your joy is full. Do you have today off? What does your day hold?

Progress and Coyotes…

It’s Thursday morning and the sun is shining right now but we have a small system moving through later. I wanted to show you some photos of our attic now that I have everything back up there.

Lots of stuff but we still have half the floor space up there vacant…she pats herself on the back.

On to our outdoor progress…

These are before and after looks at the side yard.

Yesterday the gravel and the concrete blocks arrived. After the gravel was delivered I headed out for a walk.

I took a new route today heading straight down a very busy street so I could photograph some unusual yard art that I’ll show next Thursday. After photographing I headed back up the hill and spotted something I wasn’t thrilled about…

This coyote was across the street looking at me. Yikes! Thankfully the traffic was very busy and he couldn’t make it across the street until I was well past him.

Looking back he’s still waiting for a good opportunity to cross…

I’ve got to say that this is my preferred sighting on any given day! A pretty Robin doesn’t make me nervous.

Back at the homestead the big boulders have been moved and set in their new home. We’ll clean up around them later.

The block arrived and the wall is going in at a good pace. We should see a lot of progress today.

Hope your Thursday goes well for you!