The Yard

Shortly before we closed on the house, the septic system failed. The seller installed a new system, and the contractors re-spread the dirt around and put some grass seed down. It all looked pretty good, particularly since we didn't have to pay for any of it.

But when we had visitors a couple of weeks ago, someone pointed out to me that our dirt patch was pretty bumpy and uneven. While I had certainly noticed that, it didn't really occur to me that I should do anything about it. I guess I subconsciously figured the weight of the grass would level it all out? Now that I've typed that into a computer, it sounds pretty stupid.

Here's a representative view of Twisted Ankle Estates:

My dad suggested I get a landscaper's rake, so I got one and went to work. Since a lot of the dirt was really compacted, I also had to get a hoe. Coors Light provided moral support.

L to R: water bottle, hoe, Coors Light, rake

After getting things relatively flat, I put down some better grass seed than the contractor's mix that was already there. The whole thing took a few hours. It also took several trips to Home Depot. Grass seed bags tell you how much ground they'll cover in terms of tennis-court size. Trying to buy the seed taught me that I apparently have no idea how big a tennis court is. What I initially thought would be sufficient for almost the entire yard barely covered the area of a ping-pong table.

In the end, the dirt yard looked pretty good.

The Grand Tour

In response to a few requests (well, at least one, anyway), here is a video tour of the new house. Ella was kind enough to narrate. I was watching the girls myself this weekend, so I'd also like to point out that she picked her own outfit.

Thinning Branches

We had some help this weekend, when my brother Dan, sister Kate, brother-in-law Colin, and nephew Shane came up to visit and help us move some of our stuff. They also helped out with other stuff, as this picture shows. While it looks like Dan is defending this pine tree from a water-bottle-wielding car, he was actually pruning some of the lower branches so we could pull our cars all the way in to the driveway.

Since it's Dan's chainsaw, I graciously let him do the cutting. Of course, now in the pictures he's "cool chainsaw guy," and I'm just "thinning-hair-on-the-back-of-the-head guy."

The lawn is a little patchy.

Step Zero

I've agreed to try to make built-ins for the house, which I have no business doing. We're picturing something that will cover one of the walls in the family room, and will have toy storage, a window bench, and a spot for the television and related accessories. I have a really beautiful picture of it in my head, but it will probably come out looking more like this:

At any rate, if I have any hope of pulling this off, I need someplace to work on it. Luckily, the house came with a big, ready-to-collapse barn. More on that later, but suffice to say for now that it makes for a perfect workshop. But I needed a work table. So I figured I'd make some sawhorses-- it would be good practice cutting and screwing things, and I could throw a piece of plywood over them to serve as a work table.

I found a good design for some sawhorses online, and got to work. They came out pretty good, if the only thing you have to go on is this low-resolution photo I took from my cell phone:

You can't see the cracked wood, huge gaps (well, actually you kind of can), and stripped screws here, and the legs don't wobble much in a still photograph. Still, they are very sturdy. I did some pretty amazing donkey kicks off of them as a test, and they were rock-solid. And I did get better using the circular saw, and even figured out what the random spinning part with numbers printed on it was on my drill-- a clutch!

When I left for the evening, the sawhorses were safely stacked back in the barn, radiating a heavenly glow from the sun streaming in the window.

Bush League

We bought a new house last week. It was really well-maintained, but also needs a lot of work. Does that make sense? Hopefully, on some deeper level, it does.

One of the first things we wanted to do was to trim or get rid of the rhododendron "bush" (actually a tree, complete with trunk) in front of the house. As you can see, the tree is a perfect hiding spot for creeps, pervs, peeping toms, ne'er-do-wells, nerds, weirdos, villains, lone nuts, and cat burglars. It had to go.

Before.

Unfortunately, all I had were garden loppers, which don't do much against an 8-inch trunk. (That's a free landscaping tip.) Still, I did manage to take the tree down a few pegs, giving it the tree equivalent of whatever it's called when you shave a poodle down to its pink skin.

After.

Much better! Well, sort of, if you like the look of those nasty, apple-throwing trees from The Wizard of Oz. As you can see, it was hiding two windows. We may try to figure out if it will grow if we cut it back to a stump. Or maybe we'll rip it out of the ground.