Project - Phase Two

This is not a picture from space... This is our pool! Yuck! Living in the 'Land of Devil Wind' makes it nearly impossible to keep the cover on the pool all winter. But at least the cover is off now and the cleaning has started! I looks like a farm pond, don't you think?
OK, don't scream! This is really ugly...

Around the corner of the house is the new wood steps and the stone steps that we just finished. At least we have one entrance to the pool area that is not an obstacle course! This side was done... Then we put in the outdoor boiler system. They had to trench right through the area I had finished. There were stepping stones leading to the lawn area, surrounded by the crushed brick and a few small boulders. The pavers stacked near the pool used to be in front of the big wooden box that used to sit along the back wall of the house for storing the pool supplies.

There is a lot of dirt to smooth out before I replace the black plastic and landscape cloth. Fortunately I didn't have a lot of plants in place yet. Once the pool is cleaned and open, Ali will have something to do while I tackle Phase Two!

Oh my, it's hot! Broke 90 today!

320 Pounds of Concrete!

The local weatherman has been having fun with me. I'm starting to get annoyed! He keeps telling me that storms are coming. I've been wanting to get the stones finished and move on to the next step of my project.


Ali and I went to Lowe's today and bought four eighty-pound bags of concrete mix, hoping to be able to use it someday soon. After dinner it still hadn't rained. I got online and checked the forecast... A slight chance for spotty light showers. I'll take the gamble!


Hubby is still on restrictions, but he offered to mix and shovel. Ali helped me get the heavy bags out of my car and into the wheel barrow. (Did I mention the project area is at the opposite end of the house as the driveway? And since it's rained a lot we can't drive around to it!)


We each had our job. Papaw shoveled the concrete a little at a time. I was on my knees with a small garden shovel, filling in the gaps, cracks, holes, etc. Ali used a bucket to carry the crushed brick down and smashed a layer of it into the wet concrete. It took all four bags to finish this part of the job. I still have some stones edging the other side of the patio that need mortared, but it will have to wait.


We've made it this far! Yea! Next comes the plants for the other side and staining the rest of the wood... But that will be a few days. I've promised Ali that, come hell or high water, the cover comes off the pool tomorrow! How does it look so far? The big dark spot is just some very wet mulch that was left in the other wheel barrow.

And remember the new wood steps? Makes a great spot to sit and sample the chives...

Step 1 completed!

Girl power! Never underestimate it. Papaw has been 'out of commission' for a while, so Ali and I have had to do the hard labor by ourselves. The heat has slowed us down a little, but today we finished placing the stones for the steps from the lower patio up to the landing. They are all leveled, interlocked, and packed in with clay.

How do they look?

The next step is concrete. We'll pack the edges and gaps and smash the crushed brick into the top of it to match the way we did the slabs. Then we'll smooth out the slope, and put in some plants and mulch.

There's still lots to do at the top of the steps. We've got to level and secure the deck that is presently just laid on the ground, add a couple of steps from the top slab to the pool deck, rebuild the wood walkway on the other side of the deck (spaces are too big between boards - it's a scavenged piece), and finally, redo the landscape and stepping stones where they dug through to install the pipes for our outdoor boiler last fall. Wow, that sounds like a lot, doesn't it?

Anyway, the pool cover is coming off tonight or tomorrow! A dip after our work today sure would have been nice!

Baby steps...

We got over two inches of rain yesterday, so the ground is still far too muddy to be working on the steps; but I had to make a little progress. Ali and I spent about two hours trying to edge the patio while walking around with ten pounds of mud stuck to our shoes! A lot of mud washed down onto the patio and had to be shoveled off. I should have taken a 'before' shot the way it looked when we started today.


The first shot below is from last week, and shows how the ground is up to (actually a little above) the patio level. Ali dug a trench on the right side to hold landscaping timbers as a border to the new shade garden we put in last week. To the left side, the mud had washed down about three inches deep next to the post. That's the area we concentrated our effort on today.

Ali shoveled the mud off the patio (again), while I dug out along the edge with a hoe. We filled the wheel barrow to the brim with mud! Yuck! It probably took three times longer than it would have if it was dry. The gooey stuff kept sticking to the tools. And us!

I found some pretty fossil rocks to place along the edge. Then Ali helped me pick out the perfect stepping stones to lead off the patio toward our fire pit. I think the rocks will stop any future mud slides from reaching the patio. I'll add a couple more later to cut through the garden that will trail down and across to the front garden. I haven't decided what color to stain the concrete. I'm thinking of doing something different. Our front porch is mustard yellow and the sidewalk and steps are kind of reddish brick colored. Of course, this probably won't be until the leaves are changing! I figure it will take me all summer to finish my plan. I don't work very fast in July or August. But anyway, this is how it looks now...Since it's on the west end of the house and is covered by the upstairs balcony, it stays shady until very late in the afternoon. This will be a perfect spot for Ali to sit and read. She'll have company too, because Sadie loves lying on the cool concrete. It's going to be such a pretty little sitting area. And if I lean over the balcony railing far enough, this is what it looks like from above...
It was a good day, topped off with a trip to Wilmington's Banana Split Festival! Ali is going home tomorrow to spend the night. She'll probably be blogging about the festival when she gets back Sunday. We had a great time!

Work a Little, Play a Little

G#2 (Ali) is here for the summer, and likes helping with the projects. Here Sadie is supervising while Ali learns the intricate fitting process of building a stone stairway. After a couple of hard hours, it looked like a good place to take a break...

Hard work does have its rewards!