A sneak preview

I got to work in the yard for several hours yesterday afternoon -- that makes me SO happy and relaxed. It's great therapy for anything that ails me. The granite isn't done, but as much as I've been talking about it, I feel like I should give you a sneak preview:

It's different colors depending on how wet it is.  Some of it that you see is from last week's installation and some is new -- so some was rained on.   (It took some crafty cropping of that photo to not reveal 2 other projects to you!  They aren't ready yet...)

Anyway, I'm really pleased with how it's turning out.  As I'd hoped, it is giving the yard a more cohesive look, and the mud is totally getting under control.  I love when missions get accomplished.

That bed right by the stairs is a new one I put in with plants from the butterfly plant sale -- more on that in a sec.

Making it happen

It's amusing to me -- Home Depot will apparently rent anything to anyone.  (Well, anyone with a valid DL, a major credit card and current proof of insurance --)   I give you Exhibit A:

EXHIBIT A



This is a new, Super Duty something-or-other with a 3,000 pound payload (I like that word, can you tell?  I'm not even sure that I am using it correctly.)  For a $25 deposit you can drive it all over town.  It has gigantic side rearview mirrors, an alarm that sounds if you overload the bed, and when you reverse?  It beeps as though it were a very large piece of equipment.    And, if you normally drive one of the smallest convertibles on the road, this IS a very large piece of equipment.  My advice?  If you see one of these trucks around town, give the driver a wide berth -- just like I do when I see those U-Haul rental trucks.  You KNOW that isn't the vehicle that those people regularly drive.

Keith, my local friendly tool rental agent had no issue whatsoever with handing me the keys.  He did advise me that there was good news and bad news:  The truck is brand new.  Deadpan.  Get it?  Right:  don't mess it up. 

Portions of the drive to the gravel place -- about 5-6 miles -- were white knuckle driving.  I am a can-do type of girl.  I am.  But those mirrors?  They seemed to stick out a LONG WAY.  And the center light poles seem so close!  Every time one came up and I didn't clip it I was relieved.  And then -- road construction.  Those long lines of vertical concrete dividers that make the lanes seem oh so narrow?  Ahh ha ha ha ha.

As I drove, I mentally re-framed the experience with affirmations that it's good to push your comfort boundaries.  And really, it was sort of fun.  I was riding really high up.  And, here's a shocker -- fellow drivers seemed to do double-takes when they saw pigtails in the driver's seat.  I'm not going to tell you that wasn't entertaining.  It made me wish for my hard hat from my office bookshelf, just for shock value.  (Oh yes, I do have one.  Truthfully?  I have 3.  I know.  You're jealous.  I would be, too.)

And before I knew it, I was here:

I got out of the truck, my receipt in hand, and waited for the front end loader...   A guy in a truck with a little flatbed trailer got in line behind me.  I could tell, he was jealous of my truck.  Even if it was just a rental.  And then -- !

Here he comes!!

The truck sank considerably when the granite was dumped in.  As I drove the circular drive to get out of the area I called Red.  When he answered I said, "You know, they will rent anything to anyone..."

What day is it?

All week I've been mixed up on what day it is.  On Monday morning my oldest sister texted me and I had to literally stand there for a second to determine if it was Friday morning or Monday morning.  That's pretty bad.  Yesterday Red and I were leaving his daughter's house and I said, "tomorrow's Friday!"  No, actually today is Thursday.  And just now I looked at this blog -- thought -- gosh I haven't posted in a week!  But no, I haven't posted since Monday; that's just 3 days.  At any rate... I shall try to get oriented and tell you what's going on.

I haven't gotten as much done as I've wished, but that's pretty much par for the course for me.  My week in reverse chrono review?  My ankle is nearly healed -- today I am Ace wrap free -- maybe I'll actually make it all day this attempt.  Ah, positive thinking.   Tuesday evening I spent several hours with 6 neighbors in what we've taken to calling our local fallout shelter (the nicest crawlspace we've yet found on on our street) and then enjoyed the following 24 hours without electrical power.  It's good for your skin.  And, backing all the way up to Monday morning, I awakened to my dog being violently ill and took her to the vet.  She's still there.   But I think I get to bring her home tonight -- a couple of days worth of IVs later, and today's exploratory surgery averted.  So yeah, I haven't gotten as much done as I thought, but I've sort of had some things going on.

I do have a backstory to tell you, and it falls into the category of, "you've gotta want it."  In Monday's post I glossed over the story about neighbors helping me get a half a yard of granite for my yard.  This can either be "persistence pays off" story, or it can be a "calamity of errors" -- you choose.

My next door neighbor (really -- I must come up with nicknames -- but I am not feeling clever today --) and I were working on an unrelated project Sunday afternoon and the topic of granite came up.  We got the glint in our eyes... smirked, and then it was "I'd totally do it.  Do you want to do it?  Let's do it!"  Paint brushes were put down, and we both went inside to change.  When we emerged a few minutes later I was in work boots and we both had bandannas on our heads:  We were ready.  The plan?  Rent a Home Depot truck and got get a load of granite.  The draw was that the Home Depot truck has a larger payload, so we could get twice as much with it versus as a personal truck.  We're giddy.

We sail into the Home Depot tool rental and we're told as the renter I need three things:
1)  Driver's license
2)  Major credit card (why are they never minor?) and
3)  Proof of insurance

DL?  Check.  Credit card?  Check.  Insurance?  In the glove box -- be right back -- ohhhhh.  This card expired last week.  In the little red plastic envelope I have cards going back literally years... but the current one is on my desk at work.   We go outside and regroup.

Neighbor suggests she'll rent the truck.  We'll go to her house and get her insurance card.  We drive home.  She scampers into the house, grabs the insurance card and head out.  I make the mental connection that another Home Depot location is probably closer to the gravel place.  But will they have a truck?  Oh!  We know neighbor-across-the-street was going to Home Depot, and probably that one.  We call her.  Yes, she's there.  A quick scan of the parking lot and she can report yes, there is a truck.  Stellar!  We point my car that direction.

We get there, and bandanna neighbor goes in to rent.  She comes out too quickly... doesn't have her wallet -- surely its in the car... hmmm.  No.  Did she leave it at home?  We tear the car apart -- nothing.  So now we have insurance, but now no DL or CC.  Seriously?

We ask the 3rd neighbor -- can you rent it?  No, she has the DL and insurance, but no CC on her.  Any way you slice it, we have 2 of the 3 required items.  And, we're told, all three items must be in the same name.  Oh, and the gravel place?  Closes in less than an hour -- early, because it's Sunday.  We look at each other.  I say, "You know, it's okay.  It's not meant to be today -- I'm fine with that."  Bandanna neighbor is having none of that.  Her plan?  We move the sod from the 3rd neighbor's truck into my car, and put the granite in the truck.  Neighbor with truck agrees... and we implement the plan... driving to the gravel place with the sod in the back and the convertible top down, we make an aromatic observation as bits of grass are blown intou our faces and onto the dash:  the sod supplier must fertilize with manure...

We got the granite (orange -- choices were white, gray or orange) went home, and first laid the new sod.  Then on to my yard, unloading the granite.  Just then a third neighbor unwittingly walked over -- probably thinking that idle garden chat was happening -- ha!  and walked right into the work.  She didn't hesitate a moment, though, and soon the four of us were tackling the unloading.  Shovels, wheelbarrows, rakes, we had it going on.  At 4:15 I realized that Red would be picking me up in less than an hour for our anniversary celebration -- a nice dinner out and a show at the Winspear Opera House.  I had 45 minutes -- talk about a transformation!  I felt  t e r r i b l e  about abandoning my neighbors working on a project in my backyard -- but reservations had been made, tickets had been purchased, and I really had to go.  I owe them big time -- dinners for some and gimlets for another -- no doubt about that.

It went further than I'd expected -- and it's going to look fantastic.  I'll need more... but it's a great start.

Weekend Update

Wow, this was a busy weekend...  here are the high points -- I will try to post some photos tomorrow.

1)  I volunteered at the butterfly plant sale on Saturday -- so much fun!  I spent the majority of the day chatting with two Master Naturalists while we tended to customers.  I picked their brains all day long about becoming and being a Master Naturalist, and a Naturalist vs. a Master Gardener.  I also bought more plants... although no, I hadn't yet planted the ones that I had bought on Tuesday at volunteer orientation. 

2)  Sunday morning I spent puttering around in the yard.  I removed pansies from an old bed and planted some of my new plants in it, and then put the pansies back in around them.  I set two areas of pavers as stepping stones -- part of my on-going battle against mud. I planted two new plants back by the fence, and while I was there did some weeding around the yoga platforms and raspberries.  It was a blissful day of playing the dirt.  Saturday night I watched the basketball game -- GO MAVS!!

3)  Sunday afternoon my neighbors helped me get a 1/2 yard of decomposed granite!  Much longer story there -- but for now, it's fab, and it was just in time for quite an unexpected rainstorm this morning.  Yay!  I'll probably need 2 more loads to have it cover the way I'd like. 

4)  A neighbor put out a big garbage can to catch rain overnight and emailed me this morning, thrilled and amazed at how much water she collected with so little rain -- and she's definitely committed to a rain barrel.  Love that.

Wishing for Decomposed Granite

I thought I might get some decomposed granite for my backyard this weekend, but the weekend is shaping up to be too busy already -- and if I were honest with myself I'd admit that shoveling granite probably wouldn't be the best thing I could do with my (healing) sprained ankle.  But I really want the granite project underway.  Really.


Here's the general look that I'm going for:

My main purpose is to cover up dirt soil* until I can landscape everywhere. I remain thrilled to have all the grass gone out of my backyard, but am less thrilled when the soil becomes mud when it rains. I am not over the moon happy with the few paths I put in (cedar mulch over weed stop fabric) so I'll pull those up and redistribute the mulch into beds. I think the granite will provide a more cohesive look, and for the most part negate the need for paths.



I did make a couple of phone calls to suppliers about price and how far a cubic yard would go -- and did some rough calculations of how much space I have to cover. I think I need about 2 cubic yards, maybe a little more. I'm told one cubic yard of decomposed granite will cover 300 sq. ft. 1 inch deep (or 600 sq. ft. 1/2 inch deep -- look at me, doing math) I think something between 1/2 inch and 1 inch deep will serve my purpose.

Which brings me to a c-c-c-catch 22. The minimum delivery is 4 yards. The amount you can put in a back of a regular pick up truck is about half a yard, because it's so heavy. So, I can get 4 yards delivered and have nearly twice as much as I need (obviously foolish -- won't be doing that) or I can make 4-5 trips in a pick up truck. Ugh. But, as Red pointed out, the good news about that method is that by hauling 1/2 a yard at a time, I won't end up with more than I need. It's a lot of trips though. Maybe I can re-frame the driving time as labor breaks?  I am also going to check into truck rental at Home Depot -- maybe they have a larger payload than a personal pick up truck.

* Soil or dirt?  "Dirt" has sort of a negative connotation, doesn't it?  And "soil" seems more respectful and attended to.  Because I plant plants in it, and I want to nurture those plants, its better to project that I'm planting them into soil, not just sticking them in the dirt.