random days...

while we're working on the backyard, we're having an HVAC guy and contractor work on the basement.  framing going up!

tedious cobblestone work on the stairs.  david took a sick day from work on thursday, i think, and did the square stairs, and finished the retaining wall on the left.  i used all the flagstone we had...we called and ordered more, and they said they could get it to us by friday/saturday, then their truck broke down.  so there is still a hole in my patio. 

the boys and i spent friday morning at home depot picking up more materials.  yup, we pushed one cart and pulled the other until a worker guy saw me struggling and came over to help.  then we loaded everything up, unloaded everything at home, and then i worked on clearing the area in the front for gravel.  we see this area being used as parking for renters.

see the water drainage pipe all the way on the right?  i had to pickax a trench, add a gravel pit for drainage, bury it, then cover it up.  then dig up all the weeds.  then lay weed mat.  man.

i don't think i took photos from saturday's work.  david worked on a cobblestone landing at the top of the square staircase, and as we still didn't have flagstone, i thought i'd start poly-sanding the patio.  we knew weather (snow) was blowing in, and the polysand would need time to set, and saturday/sunday were going to be sunny all day.  so, first i ran 12 miles saturday morning (that half is coming up...), and spent the rest of the day poly-sanding the patio edges.  the poly sand is a mixture of sand and concrete, you pour between the cracks on your patio, sweep it in really finely, then wet it, and it dries hard like concrete.  it was pretty great to work with.  after reading up on ways to do a patio, we decided to put the poly sand around the edges to set the pieces, like the edges of a puzzle, and keep the rest of the pieces set in place.  since it's down below "earth-level", drainage needs to happen, so we'll just pour pea gravel between the rest of the stones.  

and here is today.  this morning.  totally up to date.  snow.  you can kind of see the cobblestone landing at the top of the square stairs, getting all wet and covered with snow.  the polysand seemed to keep up ok.  we still have pallets of material (and we're still waiting on two more pallets of flagstone), but look at all those pallets done and piled out of the way!  

since i couldn't really work on anything else, the boys and i decided to spread the gravel in the "parking area".  that was it.  hard monday...

still on our to-do list before winter really sets in: laying stones on the patio and pouring pea gravel; finish the second tier retaining wall on the right, with a set of "service stairs" to what will be the garden side of the house (more raised garden beds); finish placing cobblestones on the round stairs, making a landing at the top, and polysanding it all; burying the second drainage pipe; making a flagstone walkway from the top landing curved around the house and up to the garage (including three small stair landings, as it's a sloped area, stairs will be better there in the winter), and a smaller retaining wall mirroring the curve of the stairs.