Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Backyard Progress - Retaining Wall DONE!

That's right, you heard it here first.
(Of course - where else would you hear it?)
We (of course I mean Kidney Bean - have you 
seen how big a 6x6x8 is?  There's no way that lil 'ol me could lift
one of those babies - my arms are like noodles)...
but I digress.

The wall is complete!

And here's the proof:


I am unable to take a picture of the whole thing, but the top picture is
the right side, where you can see the wall is shorter, 
a little higher for the curved part, and then
5 boards high across the back.

In the bottom picture, you can see the rest of the wall.
It's not exactly symmetrical, but we knew it wouldn't be
when we started out, since we were going to 
continue with the areas that someone
else had tried to start something.
The green on the cut angles in the top picture
will fade with time - it's the wood preserver.

And yes, we do have several (I think 7) boards
leftover -- oops! -- so I think
we'll use them in the front yard to clean up the landscaping there a little bit.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Backyard Progress - Retaining Wall

 We (of course I mean Kidney Bean) dug a trench and filled most of it with gravel.
 Here's the view of the remaining gravel and the drainage pipe that will
be behind the retaining wall.
 We ordered 46 (!) boards from the hardware store and had them
delivered - which enabled us to see an awesome fork lift.
Three big wheels - you could tell it can do the tough stuff.

Thank you to our neighbor who saw Kidney Bean carrying the boards and came
over to help carry them all to the backyard.  It was no easy task.
They are heavy!  I can help move one, sort of.
 Here's the stack of boards at the end of that night.
And here's what it looks like today.  We have one row of boards all the way across,
with the second row almost done.  Although as I type this, Kidney Bean is still
out there finishing row two.

What a guy.

Camera Trouble

Seriously, this is getting a little ridiculous...
I keep meaning to post something on my blogs, but I want to include
pictures, especially since it's usually more fun to read
(and write it) with pictures.

But, we are having some issues with the cameras around here.
One camera has not been willing to connect to the computer,
and now the other one that was working splendidly
was drenched while in the diaper bag.  The
screen will no longer turn on, but it still
takes pictures.  But of what?
So I don't want to use camera #2, but after using
#1, I have to switch the memory card and battery, since there
isn't a way to hook it up.
I guess the most important thing is to keep the camera's straight, so I know
which one to take places and which to leave.

Speaking of which, I left the camera home last weekend when we
went to Idaho and threw Tomato a birthday party,
(She's 5!!)
but at least someone had a decent phone on their camera
(thanks, friend!)
and they will be sending me the pictures in the next few days.

But to tide us over, I'll find one to stick up now.


 This is the cutest Sour Cream I've ever seen!!
He can almost sit up...I had to keep an arm to steady him
while I took the picture because he's on the footrest, not the floor.