It’s been a busy weekend for me. Got things done around the house, plotted out World Domination, and Cleared The Yard (phase 1). My fingernails hurt. That reminds me …it’s summer now, which means the nails need cut down and manicured. Long manicured nails don’t work for me in summer – too many things going on that result in wrecking said manicure. Therefore it’s time to chop ’em off, clean up the edges all nicely, and go on about my business.
This weekend’s business involved a lot of hard work that I’m paying for today, but I like the progress that was made.
I started on The Backyard.
Before:
More ‘before’, with Darnell (the random neighborhood cat) pictured in top right.
Six hours later, this is what I accomplished with a rake and shovel:
Here’s a shot looking out from my bedroom window. Note the missing iceplant.
There was also a line of fake plastic rocks that is now MIA.
Today, I hurt. Last night I hurt so much that I woke up in the middle of the night wanting to vomit from how painful my arms felt. No vomiting occurred, thank goodness.
The photo above shows how I got a large section almost completely cleared. The goal is to get the rest of that stuff pulled up so it’s just back to bare dirt. Now I’m planning my next step, and I think this is how it will work out:
Top-down view, fence at the top, hopefully vegetable planters and a compost box will be off at the left. Potted plants – probably jasmine – I want to grow up to cover the fence; at least a large portion of it that isn’t currently covered. In between, railroad-tie-style rectangular beams of wood will split up the yard while providing something similar to tiers.
Like this, but using rock filler instead of sod:
The yard slants down in kind of a curve, and has a fairly steep grade. The section of squiggles along the bottom of the drawing would be that red bark/mulch stuff. The top section (top right in drawing) will be flat enough for a nice patio area, and then just have to figure out if it would look better with a tarp cover or a pergola cover.
Awwww:
My goal is not to spend a lot of money, just to make something inexpensive that’s enjoyable for us while we’re living here and also improve the value when we sell. Any additional reading/art nooks I can create in the meantime… thumbs up. 🙂
Retention 