How I Spent My Summer Vacation, part 1.

First of all, I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted. Where in the heck do the days go?! I'm sorry for the lack of updates. There's nothing (to me) more frustrating than finding a blog you like to read and having the blogger not update regularly. I will try to remedy that situation and maintain some sort of regular timeframe when it comes to updating. That said, I have been extraordinarily busy of late.

Last week we were on vacation. We stayed home doing projects around here until Wednesday morning, at which point we headed for Vancouver and Victoria, BC. But before I go into the details of that trip, let me regale you with tales of the project that consumed the three consecutive Saturdays preceding last Saturday.

Our oldest son bought a beautiful home in the Spokane Valley almost two years ago. They already had a nice house in Liberty Lake (just east of the Spokane Valley), but it was in a very crowded neighborhood filled with cookie-cutter houses on small lots with just a few feet between them. They put a for sale sign on that house and sold it in three days. Their new home is in a beautiful development called Morningside and is situated on a hill, or rather collection of hills, about 3 miles south of "downtown" Spokane Valley, overlooking the entire Spokane area. The lots are big - half an acre or more - as are the homes. All the houses have three car garages, are custom built, have sprinkler systems, and beautifully landscaped yards. Tommy's house was no exception. The photos on the realtor's web site showed a gorgeous yard with beautifully blooming perennials and a healthy green lawn. The interior was immaculately decorated by the lady of the house with each room painted a different color and sporting wallpaper walls and/or borders. It was quite a step up from their other home, although the layout was almost identical, just larger.

It didn't take long for them to realize the landscaping required far more maintenance than either of them could manage. The previous owner was a stay-at-home mom who had plenty of time for pruning shrubs, deadheading flowers, and doing the many chores that accompany a heavily planted yard. Tommy and Shannon are on the go constantly. When they're not ferrying Sydney to and from basketball games, tournaments, camps, and school, they're taking Alyssa to swimming lessons or daycare, going to the gym, playing basketball themselves, or working. Throw in some summer fun, visits to Sandpoint, a vacation here and there, and you have a recipe for yardwork disaster. Before long, the shasta daisies were overrunning the front landscape beds, carpet roses were so big and overgrown with blooms they were an eyesore rather than an accent to the yard, vinca was sprouting from every spot in the yard that wasn't covered with grass, and thistle was sprouting from the middle of the few junipers in the yard. It was a nightmare - and that was just the front yard. The backyard is an even bigger problem, but not one so glaringly visible to every passerby. In a neighborhood of perfectly cared for yards, theirs stood out as an eyesore. At one point early this summer, they decided to put the house on the market - after all, the housing market was going crazy, values had skyrocketed, and it made sense to get out while the getting was good. The plan was to sell the house, pay off bills, get out of debt, move to Sandpoint and build a house the way they wanted it for less money. Well, after several open houses with dozens of prospective buyers tromping through the place, after dropping the price by several thousand dollars, the house remained unsold. Too many new homes were being built all around them that could be had for almost the same price. I don't think the overwhelming landscaping helped. When they realized a sale would not be imminent, they adjusted their plan. If they had to stay in the house, then they had to deal with the yard. That's where we came in. If there is one thing we know, it's landscaping for maximum curb appeal but minimum maintenance.

We had always felt that the area right outside their bay window next to their walkway and "porch" was perfect for a patio. The yard is two levels - the lawn and driveway are on one level with steps that take you two steps higher to another level just in front of the front door and front of the house that was filled with these impossibly overgrown perennials. Another two steps up takes you onto the small porch from which you enter the house. A long, exposed aggregate sidewalk takes you from the driveway, up the steps to the door. A brick retaining wall with two short columns divides the upper level from the lower one. It was our perception that a patio to the left of the sidewalk would be a perfect addition to the front of the house. In order to put one in, all the perennials would have to be removed. Tommy and Shannon decided they liked the idea and set about preparing for the creation of the patio. They also followed our recommendation and got rid of all the bark in the landscape beds with the intention of replacing it with river rock. Rock is much cleaner looking, doesn't fade every year and require replacement with fresh rock like bark does, is less likely to foster the growth of weeds, and makes killing any that do try to grow a lot easier. They had their work cut out for them.

About a month ago they called us and told us they had removed all the bark, had ordered rock, and were ready for us to start helping with the patio. We drove over to see their progress and were amazed at what a difference just getting rid of the overgrown perennials and bark made. The place already looked neater, cleaner, and much more inviting. They also had concrete curbing put in around all the landscape beds that matched their brick on the house and the retaining wall. You could actually see the front of the house for a change. We decided we would come very early the following Saturday and start the patio. We went with them to the landscape supply place and helped them decide on the pavers for their patio, the pattern they wanted them laid in, and the color they wanted the pavers in. The hardscape guy at Gibson's Nursery in Spokane was super helpful.

We arrived at Tommy's at 7AM ready to start excavating for an 11x15 patio. Their soil is pretty sandy so we didn't think the excavation would take too long. A few shovelfuls into the project we realized we were in trouble. The entire area was filled with rocks, roots, and hard, hard soil. It was amazing anything had grown there. Tom realized there was no way we could excavate by hand so he had me get out the yellow pages and start calling around in hopes of finding someone with a mini backhoe who could come excavate that day - a Saturday. Yeah, right. I didn't hold out much hope that this was even a remote possibility. To my surprise, we did find someone! The guy drove over to look at the job, called his backhoe operator to see if he felt like doing the job, and said it was a go. Within 20 minutes we had a mini backhoe on site digging out the patio. Tom and Tommy hauled away wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of dirt to Tommy's backyard (he has this huge area on the side of his house that the previous owner used for storing an RV and a race car). After about an hour and a half, the excavation was done. It cost $150 but was worth every penny. We'd probably still be digging if the backhoe hadn't come. Apparently, the area where the house sits is glacial moraine. That means that it's full of rocks, sand, clay and all sorts of other unwelcome stuff. Add to that the construction debris, like cinderblocks and roofing shingles, that was obviously just plowed under when they finished building the house, and you have a real mess. Thank goodness for the mini backhoe!

Now the work began in earnest. We now had a big hole and a lot of dirt piled around that we had to level and make into the hole for the patio and prepare for the surrounding landscaping. Oh, did I mention that this particular Saturday was the hottest day of the year so far - and that the house faces southwest so is in blazing sun all day long? Yeah, that was a really nice feature of this project. There was only shade until about 9AM and then again at about 7PM. Aside from that, full sun, blisteringly hot, reflecting off of the brick facade on the house all day long. This particular day temps reached 98 degrees. I swear it was 108 in the sun with the heat off those bricks. After the backhoe left, we had a lot of dirt to spread around and still more digging. There had been this crazy mound of dirt at one end that we had to level out and a slope that needed to be made less steep. Tom, Tommy, Shannon, and I raked, dug, raked, moved dirt, carried away boulders, and raked for hours. Then the guys started bringing in the crushed rock that would be the foundation for the patio while I started spreading landscape fabric and rock in the surrounding landscape bed. Every time one of the guys brought a wheelbarrow full of rock to be dumped into the hole, I had to stop what I was doing to lift the front of the wheelbarrow up the two steps so the wheelbarrow didn't chip the steps. I must have done this 100 times. After they'd dump the rock, I started spreading it in the hole. Shannon was inside making something to eat and then taking care of Alyssa for most of this. My forearms were screaming, as were my hands. It was brutally hot and none of us could get enough to drink. But time was of the essence and we had to keep working.

We finally took a break about 1:30 PM for half an hour to eat lunch. That break made it extremely difficult to go back to work. We had two yards of rock to move from the driveway into the hole and then to level. We also had about 6 or 8 yards of river rock to put into the landscape beds - a part of the project that is still ongoing. We worked until 8 PM and finally got all the rock in the hole, leveled, the dirt spread, shrubs trimmed and/or removed, and things ready for putting the pavers in place. It was one of the longest, most miserable days of my life. We were filthy. I had worn my Chaco sandals so my feet were caked with dirt and water. My legs were streaked with dirt and sweat. I felt as if someone had dumped me into a barrel of salt while I was wet thanks to the dried sweat that covered my body. We were going to take a shower at Tommy's before heading home, but we were so tired we just drove home filthy, showering once we got home and falling into bed immediately thereafter. What an ordeal! And there was more to come.

Next... laying the pavers, with accompanying photos.