Monday, October 10, 2011

Dun dun dun Done! (almost)


I've arranged all the 'after' photos so that they are in the same order and from the same vantage point as in the 'before' post.  Go ahead and pull up a second screen.  It's for your viewing pleasure.  And because I know details like that matter to normal people too.

If you immediately noticed that the bottom right photo is landscape oriented when it should be vertical, then you are NOT normal. Welcome to my club.  I got the 'this is not a normal detail to be obsessing about' speech from Scott multiple times over the weekend.  And I am grateful he was there to balance me.  Otherwise we might have ended the weekend with only one very perfect step and 1500 pounds of crushed limestone still on the truck.

I took the time to do the math, and we used over 2000 pounds of crushed limestone on that path.  Doesn't seem possible?  Ask Scott's lower back.


Special thanks to these other brawny guys who moved their share of limestone for us:

Scott's dad, our neighbors Cole and Chris, and Owen.

Send us your chiropractor bills.

If there were a Hunks of Home Depot calendar, I would totally submit this shot.  Love the gloves in the back pocket.
Are you sorry you gave this blog address to your co-workers yet, hon?

Strained muscles and blisters aside, I think I'm the only one with any minor injuries to report.  A splinter in my right index finger (that's still there - grrr), a landscape fabric stake into the cuticle of my ring finger (felt niiiice) and a drill-torqued wrist/elbow. (Didja know a drill will settle for applying the torque to YOU if the bit binds up?  Total rookie mistake.)  

If given a do-over, the only thing I would change is that I would use nice straight steel edging rather than this eco-friendly stuff that's been rolled into an impossible-to-reverse coil.  All the waviness that you may have noticed in the top photos is a result of the Battle of the Coil.  I've still got to backfill dirt down the outside edge of the path (which will also take care of the landscape fabric you see sticking out), so I'm hoping I can straighten things out a little more then.  If not, my plan is ferns.  Lots and lots of ferns.

5 comments:

Aunt Pam said...

Looks really nice!

Coach said...

This is your mother's dream for our back yard. I am sure she will be sending out pictures soon with our yard and the benches and bird baths along the path. Our problems right now would be our health (age) and the money to do it with. She just wants as much of our grass taken up as possible to do away with having so much to mow. Right now there is no grass with the lack of rain. Your pathway looks awesome. I bet Scott feels like he is about 60 years old right now. I hope Bill is alright. Something like this is good for Owen; he got to do things with his dad, he is taught what it means to work hard and he can see the results of hard work. I hope you did not over-do it yourself.

Anonymous said...

Love it! Love it!! Love it!! I can't wait to come and see it in person. Your dad is right. This is exactly what I want for the back yard.

Coach said...

2,000 pounds; I know you are a math major and unless I am mistaken, isn't that one ton?

Shelley & Scott said...

Yep. Crazy that it's that heavy, huh? They thought we were going to have to split it into two loads so the truck could handle it. We made it in one, but Scott was riding looow!