The Great Lawn Installation Project of 2007 - Day 3

Day three - this was the last BIG day of the project...the last day we would have Marty, Linda and Blake at our disposal. We really had to make this day count!

First off...um....uh oh - Houston, we have a problem! So y'know how I said to remember that orange painted line across the back yard? Well, it marked the drainage pipes going from our gutters back to the pond behind our back yard. I really did mark them! We really were careful the first day and a half! But then Blake and I were working across the back yard with the trencher to put in the poly pipe so I could have some irrigation originating at the back corner of the lot (for the veggie gardens), and well, we kinda forgot where we were and what was beneath us. Blake and I made a great team for working together on raking up rocks, trading off on the Bobcat (ok, he's better on the Bobcat - yes, I admit it, but he drives forklifts and semis!). But this time we kinda biffed it. Oops! So the trencher was cutting through the pipe and I just figured it was some of the trash all the neighbors warned us we'd find buried beneath the yard. Nope. That was pipe! Uh oh!

And this big hole you see dug out around the pipes to clear space and work on the repairs? Marty did ALL of that. In an afternoon! Hell - no way I could've pulled that off. Or maybe I could've, but wouldn't have wanted to. Marty just went at it like a pro and cleared out all that dirt before hitting the stores for the repair parts (ooh, we need to reimburse him for that still!).


Here's Brett working on raking rocks from the front yard. Raking the front and back yards took a good portion of the day - and it was long, yard, tedious work. Not something I want to do again!


Check out that long row of rocks... Those all had to get scooped up and removed. Plus I was going down the other length of the front yard. PLUS we had to rake the back yard (I take credit for doing MOST of the back yard raking - but Blake helped, and Brett scooped up a good portion of those rocks - which really sucked!)


Hey, it's starting to look nice and clean!


Brett overseeing the work on the front yard.


Even though it didn't get used TOO much, my poor tiller still got real dirty...


Here's Marty after returning with the parts to repair the pipes. He told me I was lucky because he'd done the same thing some 25 years prior, so he knew just how to fix this sort of problem. That skinny black pipe on the right is the poly pipe running under the back yard...it'll go around the corner of where the current garden is a bit, and I'll rig up the pipes/faucets/drain...


Replacement pipes, seals, and a "sock" to make it all better!



Poof! One pipe like new! Sorta. Sporting it's sexy new socks! And see that little bit of sock? Heh heh - even Marty skewered the pipe while digging it out...


Isn't Tucker cute?


Hey, what's going on with those paws?


They look AWFUL dirty! (We'll come back to this shortly)



Me working hard on distributing mulch around the side of the house, AFTER distributing more topsoil around the side to hopefully fill all the holes that had appeared from settling.


You betta watch out, 'cause I know how to use this rake, and I'm all geared up in my sweat band! Looking OWWWW sexy!


Blake knows it's about time to say farewell to the Bobcat...


Looks like some wild beast tried to get in our back windows, doesn't it?


Oooooor, could it be around 5am Tucker popped the back screens off the window (we left the window too open I guess), let himself out, we heard something going on, Brett went out back and chased him back inside. But it seems he first tried to get back in the window and couldn't get in!

So - anyone got suggestions on how to bolt the screens down so cats can't pop out the frame, OR the screen from the frame, while still being safe for humans to escape in case of fire?


I was just hamming around, trying to improve my mood because by this point, let's be honest, my cranky panties were getting in a real bind. It had been a long three days, we still hadn't started seeding/fertilizing/strawing, and I was tired. The straw was looking comfy! (It wasn't. It was itchy as hell.) But it seemed like a fun place to stage some pics. While these didn't turn out GREAT due to lighting, this first one makes it look like I have a bicep!


Yee haw y'all!


This might just be the Christmas card we send out this year!


Or even better - this one! Gee, aren't we cute!?


After we chased everyone out (it was time for them to go anyhow), we worked on seeding, fertlizing and strawing everything. That went on into the next day. So glad we took extra days off from work for all of this.

And even worse? WATERING! But we'll come back to that in another blog entry...