| So, a friend of mine recently bought a condo with a tiny yard--mostly cement slab "patio" in the front, surrounded by skinny little planting beds & a cement slab patio in back, with bigger beds. Unfortunately, the previous owner had overfilled in all the beds with landscaping stone--the stuff in front wasn't band (looked like river rock) but the back was filled with something vaguely lava-rock like. Anyway, my friend thought it was awful, and wanted rid of it before she started filling it with plants.
Never one to pass up a chance for any free gardening supplies, I had offered to help remove it & take it home with me. :) I have a dirt parking area (I usually mulch it, but it was crazy rainy this winter, and it's more muddy than usual) so the "ugly" rock could go back there. And the river rock could expand the seating area around my tiny paver patio!
Anyway, I get a email from her on Friday, letting me know she'd borrowed a pickup truck & found some willing bodies, and that we'd be moving it on Saturday! Ack!
So, Saturday morning I dug up a small mountain of sod for the expanded patio area. Then quick jumped in the car to go help dig up all the stone at my friend's house. Turned out to probably be about a cubic yard or two. Followed the pickup truck back to my house. Unloaded the stone into the parking area & new patio. Tried to figure out how to WASH stone to make prettier in the patio. Decided that didn't look quite as nice as I'd hoped. Rubbed kinda sore back. Ate. Tried to convince my equally sore BF to give me a backrub. Slept. Woke up Sunday morning. Groaned. Noticed that I had first sunburn of the year, but only on my right arm & the back of my calves (very weird). Went out and looked at the previous days work. Groaned at the mountain of dug-up sod that still needed to be moved off the lawn. Sat down for a while & contemplated the new patio area. Inspired, drove to the stone store, and loaded up the hatchback with a few bags of "pretty" rock to top the patio. Got distracted on the ride back home by my favorite garden center--managed to restrain myself to a flat of annuals & some herbs. Finally got back home, and rinsed the old rock again. Made the mistake of sitting down to admire the new shape of the patio. Stayed there for a while, until the guilt of the annuals cooking in the car became to much. Groaned. Unloaded the bags of new rock, and spread it on top. Realized I needed a few more bags. Groaned. Moved the mountain of sod to form a berm on my property boundary. Covered it with black plastic trashbags & tarps to cook the grass & weeds. Since it was full dark by now, I filled up the tiki torches & surrounded the new patio...christened the new fire bowl (I love presents!), cooked a steak, and ate out there...admiring the weekend's work.
Needless to say, I'm still groaning about my sore back. :) |
