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.

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.