Sunday, February 21, 2010

What I've been doing in the yard. (Thank you Spring 1)

This is what our sky looks like the last few days. Some of the deciduous trees are starting to bloom, but most of them are still pretty bare. It is technically still winter! My quince is starting to "pink up" though. I didn't take a picture of it because it is in the shade, but here are some trees against the sky.




It's been so nice and I've been super enjoying getting out and getting things done. I am in the process of widening my driveway up near the house and making a gravel walkway so that no one has to get muddy or wet coming into the house from either direction. It's a lot of work to do by hand, but it is also very good exercise. I will use a small bulldozer for the other side of the driveway, but this area needs to be done by hand.


These are my trusty tools.


I wanted to gravel in the area by this rhody because it will be
too small for the mower when I'm done.


The gravel around the rhody bush.


This area will be lined with those retaining bricks
they have now that stack easily. The lower part will be
part of the driveway and allow two cars to park side by side there.


There used to be flower bed here up against the porch to match
the cement circled flower bed on on the other side, but I decided to
eliminate it and will just use a couple of pots there instead.


The bigger picture so you can see how much ground I
have dug out and lowered and how it looked before. At the
back of the picture is the dirt pile from what I've excavated
and the front is the gravel going down when I'm done. Everything
grassy in this picture will be dug out and graveled.


This just shows the edge that will be behind the
retaining bricks.

8 comments:

Sue said...

WOW!!!
You are one hard working lady.
Don't hurt yourself!!:)
That is going to be very nice when it's done.

The Invisible Mo said...

Thanks! I used to work as a landscaper believe it or not! I love the physical work of it.

Christine said...

That is a lot of digging. You are making me tired just looking at the pictures. It will be nice though. When do you think it will be finished?

The Invisible Mo said...

I am hoping within a few weeks. Once I get this area done I will rent a little bobcat to do the other side and move my dirt pile. When I worked for the school district things were much easier because I had two months off in the summer to do stuff. Now I have had to learn to fit it in around my schedule. That's why I started that "hour a day" program. It's amazing what you can get done in an hour if you just set your mind to it. I'm trying to give my yard an hour a day at least three times a week and more if I can. On my days off I try to dedicate a couple of hours.

Christine said...

That is an excellent plan. It is amazing what a person can get done in an hour. I should do that for all the little things that need attention or fixing. Make a big list then commit to an hour even a couple of times a week. Very soon all those little picky things that annoy me but I still just seem to do nothing about except get annoyed would be annoying me no longer.

Tui Snider said...

I love the smell of dirt! The dirt down here, though, is so clay-ey and pale, nothing like the rich brown coffee ground-colored stuff up north.

Rhodies! Ah - seeing those makes me homesick! :)

~Tui

p.s. I like your hour plan. I have a "top of the hour" plan for when I am working at the computer. Hey - maybe I'll blog about it!

The Invisible Mo said...

Good idea, Tui. What I need is something that pops me out of my seat and collapses my computer at an hour. Then it needs to also keep it from restarting for at least two hours. I might get more done that way.

The Invisible Mo said...
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