Phase I: Update

Well, Phase I has been a long and hard project. There was more work than we (ie: John) anticipated! He took one week off work and completed as much as he could- but he's pretty much a one-man team. He had help from friends the opening weekend, and I try to do what I can, but when it comes down to it, it's all him! His efforts were cut short during his week off work with his family arriving that Thursday, but he's been working on it every chance he gets since. Another obstacle: John has been a travelling machine lately, which does not help with the finish line of Phase I either. Once his family left, he also took off to Vegas for two weeks for an Air Force class. He was home for 4 days and left again to Florida for one of his buddy's weddings. He got back from last Sunday night and we are fixing to head out for a quick visit to Utah. He's got a week back from that and leaves for 3 weeks to Alaska! Phew!!! So we're hoping the last brick is down by his departure to Alaska!

Here's the Progress Report!

We worked on the retaining wall to finish that up. I glued the netting down in between a layer of stone and John capped it with the finishing stones. I raked down the dirt piles to even out the area and now it's all ready for planting (with exception to the drip irrigation to water the plants)!!
**Kindly ignore the dog poo pictured... Once the yard is finished, we'll be more on top of picking it up- but till then, it's just dirt.

Now it's just finishing up the patio. I didn't realize it at the time, but during the design phase John would ask my opinion and I gladly gave my 2 cents. I wanted a curvy, flowy landscape- with out the harsh lines and corners. John drew it out as such, but now that it's time to fit our square pavers into our curvy design... you see where I'm going with this. The patio is finished- with exception to the areas that John has to custom cut the bricks to fit. So that's what he's up to now!


He would actually just eye-ball the curve and draw his best guesstimation on the back side to give him a pattern to cut. After sawing the bricks, with his brand new miter saw (I don't' remember what it's called actually) he had to chisel the last little bit to separate the pieces. He learned that he has to cut as deep into the bricks as the saw will allow since the more he depended on the chisel, the more likely the brick is to crack in an undesirable location and thus be worthless! So then there's the fun part where he checks out his precision and fits it into the space.


Left: Notice the clean line around the (future) fire pit and the slivers he still has yet to do. He'll keep chugging along, but the end- at least of the patio- is very near!








Next stop: Digging the trenches for the irrigation system (sprinklers and drips). It should be an easier and quicker phase, but unfortunately when it's done there is nothing too tangible to show for it!