Patio Progress

Have you been wondering where I've been for the past few days? Well, my hubby and I have been working on clearing out the front of the house in preparation for a new patio. We live out in the country. No none cares what our patio looks like because no one ever comes to visit us (except for Mom, of course). Nevertheless, we want a usable patio even if we don't care what it actually looks like.

Below is a view of the prospective patio area looking north. The patio will be 10' x 20' when it is finished. We started prepping the area, but the 100+ temps that have been sitting on us since the day I started summer vacation have sapped our strength. We're too old for this! So we've hired some guys to come in and complete the patio tomorrow! Woohoo!!!

Here is a view looking south towards the sunroom door.

As part of the clearing process, we decided to remove the exceedingly old juniper bush at the corner of the house. It was shaded by the cherry tree, but that's not why it had to come out. It had to come out because the darn thing was HUGE! A few years ago my husband spent an entire day shaping this juniper so that we could get around it from the car to the house. He pruned and trimmed until it finally looked like a Hollywood poodle - little tufts everywhere. Awwww. It was adorable! For about a month... Then it became an overgrown mess with the temperament of a poodle! I tried for two or three years to keep the temperamental beast trimmed back, but finally one year the monster bit me on the ankle and I gave up. It then attempted to eat the northwest corner of my house. But in the end I won. This is what it looks like now...

We are recycling bricks from Mom's old patio. Here is the pile of red bricks. Rectangular pattern.

Here is the pile of gold bricks. Circle pattern. My husband has a plan for making them work together. We'll see tomorrow.

Here is the nest of eggs we found while clearing out. It's so hot that the hens don't want to lay in the hen house. We're finding nest of eggs, and occasionally chicks, all over our property.

Here is Tessie supervising from the comfort of one of my new reclining chairs in my sunroom. I'm not allowed to sit in them very often. They belong to Tessie and Sinbad. Or so they tell me.

 This was the unusual sight that greeted me when I entered my sunroom this afternoon. What could it be?

Here's a picture from my husband's vantage point. He's much taller than I am. Maxie was comfortable in her bed at the top of the kitty tower. Yeah, that looks comfortable... 

Oh, I almost forgot. A third style of brick to go along the outside of the patio and form a pathway to my car. This patio should be interesting (and colorful), to say the least.

Hopefully, I'll have pictures of the finished product tomorrow. Let's hope they can get the job done in one day like they think they can!

Until then,

Debbi