Summers past

Last summer my parents "hired" me to landscape the backyard. I agreed to do it because it sounded like fun. Now I knew it was labor but I wasn't expecting it to take the whole summer just to finish the first 3/4 of it. Last spring, almost a year ago now, we had some contractors come out and do some designs and estimates. After I saw both I was just joking to them and said I could to the same thing, maybe better, for less. So they challenged me to do it. I wasn't going to back down so I undertook it. I went out measured it, and planed the whole thing. It included a fire pit and patio made out of pavers, replacing about half of the grass in the yard with mulch, and stairs (which we decided to have someone else do). Even after I had planned this I still thought I could get it done in a month or so.

So, I started digging the whole for the fire pit and pavers and I ran into a few problems. First, the ground was pretty hard and dig not want to cooperate. Then once I had gotten down about six inches I ran into some roots. Not ones I could snap with the end of the shovel, I had to get an axe, and I even ended up having to dig up a couple of stumps. So a week or so into July I finally finish the fire pit and surrounded it with pavers, it was such a relief, but then I had to do it all over again, making a patio, and surrounding it with walls. So I went through that all and by the time I was done it was too late in the summer to put mulch down that would just get snowed on in a few months. That is now my project that I have to start here soon, although I am glad that it should be much easier, and I don't have to dig up a ton of dirt. But even though it was hard, I am glad I did it. It was fun, my backyard no longer sucks, and it gave me something to do outside.