The weather has been beautiful in Ohio this week; perfect for making outside maintainance and outdoor living preparations. Earlier in the week, Don and I finished powerwashing the deck around the jacuzzi and allowed it to dry. Tuesday, found me bursting with energy as I began waterproofing the entire deck. I started a bit before 11 a.m. and finally stopped in the afternoon around 3:30 p.m. High 80 degree temps and a very sunny sky left me a sunburnt but extremely happy that I had managed to get 3/4 of the deck done! After grilling a small dinner on the grill, eating, and resting, Don and I ventured out to Menard's to look at concrete decor blocks.
While walking our yard recently, cleaning up, ect., we've been chatting about some of what we are envisioning for our rear yard. I'd mentioned desiring to add some concrete blocks around the watergarden. Our rear yard is flat, so in order to add the waterfall feature to the small pond, I've been adding bags of top soil almost every year as it tends to wash away over time, even after being mixed over the years with small river rocks and plants to soften the area and assist with preventing the erosion. The new solution that I came up with is to put a 3 block high concrete wall surrounding the back section of the watergarden; while we'll add a trim of a one block layer around the watergarden section itself. Not having any experience with laying block, but what we have read on how its laid, we set out to purchase some to start and set out to begin preparing the area. After making our block selection, we purchased 30 blocks to begin with. Returning home, we dug in, literally. We managed to dig out what dirt we didn't need or desire, and set 24 of the 30 blocks into place before the rain and thunderstorms came in around 8 p.m. Setting those block helped to determine just how many we would be actually needing; although it would Wednesday before we'd actually get back to working on it.
Wednesday morning found the yard very wet after the pouring rains we received on Tuesday evening, so we worked in the house as the yard dried during the morning. Early in the afternoon, we visited our local quarry to purchase a half-ton of rock to use to fill and level under the block and returned to tear out and reset what we'd previously done. We managed to set all 30 blocks in place this time and will making another trip to purchase 30 additional blocks to finish up this project. It will be beautiful once done; making weeding the space and the surrounding area so much easier on both of us. We'll actually be able to use the weed eater vs. me doing it all by hand and having to trim with the push mover! Gotta love that!!! {smiles}
Running out of block to work with, we began getting the patio set out of the carport and putting it back on the deck. Once everything was in place, I washed everything off. That will be an on-going summer chore, but well worth the additional living space! I'm hoping to get started on decorating it with our garden decor, live plants and flowers soon although it may be a while before the space is completely. I've still a 10'x apprx. 22' area and the steps to waterproof and we're replacing the heat element on the jacuzzi. But we're making progress, little by little...I'll get some pictures taken soon to post. I'm remaining hopeful to snag some time to get back to working on my CQ throw... maybe even working on it outside on the patio table and stitching in the sunshine! {now there's a comforting thought...}
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