At the beginning of the project, quite a bit of time and effort went into deciding how we were going to get the digging accomplished. For those of you who don't know, our yard was, at one time, a place where they worked on cars. This means that they put down gravel and while you can't really see it on the surface, you only have to dig down about 1/4" before you find it. And there were places in the yard where we've had to dig down 10" or more before getting to black dirt. We were not looking forward to digging this out by hand and, indeed, we probably couldn't have. It would have killed one or both of us and then who'd be left to admire the patio?

So we rented a Bobcat! If you've never run one of these things and you get the chance, go for it! They're a lot of fun. And we couldn't believe the amount of time and back-breaking labor it saved us. In the first three hours, we got done what it would have taken us literally days of solid working to accomplish. And with a lot less Advil...

One of the issues we have faced off and on is water in our basement. I think one of the problems we had was the way our eaves drained. Well, we've solved that problem. We got some 4" black plastic piping and dug a trench for it that drains into our flower bed! Take THAT, Mother Nature!

2 July 2007

We know that it's been quite a while since Shaun has posted any pics. We apologize for the delay to anyone who has been keeping track of this site regularly. Here is quite an update.

We've had a lot of help working on the patio, particularly in the area of supervision. Here are pictures of our various supervisors:

Liv is very interested in what's going on over here.

Emmy has been a working supervisor, helping us move rocks and being a gofer.

Sybil is our neighbor's cat and she has also been very interested. Not only that, but she has been busy inspecting our work, too.

Supervising is VERY hard work...

Probably the most important supervisor of all, Beanfield has been very interested in what we are doing to her yard.

Here are several pictures of the process of putting in the new electrical wiring. What should have been a very easy thing was made far more complicated by having to take out quite a large number of clay pipes.

Here are a few pictures of the area after it was leveled in some places.

After starting to level things out, we found out how much of the dirt/rock mix we had left over from taking the first few inches off of our yard. And it had to be removed. So we got Jerry's pickup truck and started hauling it off. What Shaun thought would be one load quickly turned into three very full loads and he's not even sure that we won't need to haul more off again later...

We finally got the dirt/rock mix out of the way because we needed to have the pavers delivered. It was a frantic and furious couple of days of work to get it all done, but we got it done in time and then it was time for the delivery.

With the pavers delivered, it was time to turn our attention to the waterfall and pond. While we were able to use the Bobcat to dig out quite a bit of the pond, one can't use a Bobcat for precision digging. So it was time to pick up a shovel and dig.

Our neighbor helped us out greatly by arranging for us to get some decorative rocks. On top of that, he even went and got them for us. Thanks, Kevin!

After we dug out the pond completely, we laid down the liner and started placing it carefully.

With the liner down in the main pond basin, the next step was to build the enclosure for the waterfall. We debated quite a lot over materials and methods and finally decided on lumber that will be adorned with plants and rocks in various places.

Notice the gap on the side. This will be used as a planter.

With the enclosure built and the liner in place, it was time to add the stones that would provide the steps of the waterfall. We found some flagstone that we thought would work great and while it does work great, it is extremely heavy and we will be very glad when they are all in place.

There will be a few more layers of flagstone added, which will let the water run down into a channel of pebbles and down into a small pool above the main pond basin, from which the water will finally fall into the much larger main pond basin.

So that's where we are at this point. We are both enjoying our hard work on this project, but I think it's safe to say that we'll both be very glad when it's completed and we can enjoy the fruits of our labor!

More pictures will follow as more progress is made.