Progress

I am now FINALLY ready to show pictures of how the backyard is coming together. It's getting really exciting to see all the progress. (of course, now thanks to my broken toe progress is going to slow down a bit....stupid toe!)

So, when last I left you the back of the house still looked like this:







A few days later we pulled out the deck and it looked like this:







The following day the Bobcat came.



It dug up all my grass and broke up the old patio:





Then it brought in a bunch of gravel, which was quite a job because the dump truck had dumped all the gravel at the neighbor's house two doors down instead of at my house.



The next day the cement truck and the pump showed up bright and early.



And the cement pouring began!



After it was all poured and smoothed we waved goodbye to the cement truck and they began laying down the design.





Next they smoothed some more, and started coloring it.





The color was actually a powder. I guess I was expecting it to be liquid, because that really surprised me! He would reach into the bucket of powder and just toss it onto the wet cement. Then the smoothed it out some more. There was also some texturing involved, too.





After much smoothing and texturing and coloring and more smoothing the cobblestone paper was pulled up and a sealer was sprayed on. (I actually missed all that part. I left for the credit union and well, you know the rest of the story.)

By the time I got home it looked like this:







A special shout out to Ryan of Overcast Days for taking the final pictures for me, as I was a bit laid up by then. (I just recently found out from a blogging pro that it's correct blog etiquette to give the entire blog name and not just the author's name when referencing another blogger. Hum, who knew?)

So there you have it.

Well, not really. There is still a LOT left to do. First there is the new deck to build, which can't be done right away. The new cement has to set up for at least a week before we will be able to start construction. We also have two sheds to assemble and chain link fencing to install. (Mike started digging holes for the fence poles yesterday, and boy what a big job that turned into!!!!)

There is also the matter of the front parking strip.



Due to the extreme heat and wind the day they poured it dried too fast for them to get the design and color on it. He originally told us he would have to tear it up and re-pour it. But then he remembered he could try an overlay that was the same cobblestone design as the patio. So it will be interesting to see how that is done.

So, it's still a work in progress. And I hope my back lawn survives everything. I haven't been able to water it for a little over a week now because of everything going on. (cement workers not wanting mud, digging up sprinkling lines, loads of lumber in the corner of the yard) Because it would be really sad to finally have a beautiful patio and deck only to sit out back and look at dead grass!

And since I am now less help than before I am not too shameless to send out an open request to anybody who feels the desire to build a deck, install chain link fence, or assemble sheds in the heat. Because otherwise my dear husband will be doing it mostly alone. I promise to keep you well supplied with water and gateraid and food. But I will not, under any circumstances, go to the credit union to get you cash.


And for those who have kids like mine who just can't get enough pictures of the big trucks visit my flickr photoset of the continuing project. There you will find oodles of pictures of big trucks, and a few movies of trucks in action, too.