Finishing Touches

Perhaps this will be the last photo of the yard as I finished it today! Yep, the landscaping helpers were supposed to be here, but they didn't show and I wanted this project off the to-do list, so I did it myself.

Yesterday, I was scheduled to take the car in and have the driver side window fixed: if I put it down, it does not come back up. When the mechanic opened the parts box, he found a used motor, instead of the new one that was ordered for the job. If I wanted to have a used motor, I'd keep the one I have ... so I said reschedule for Monday and get the new part before I bring the card back for service.

On the way home, I stopped at the local home project store and picked up a few items, such as a new hoe (my old trusty hoe no longer hangs from its peg in the garage, but I'm not sure how/when it disappeared), the linseed oil for the benches, and the black paint to redo the window frame that faces the garden. Before checking out, however, I decided to look at edging again, this time stopping at the bricks.

Bottom line: for the same cost as the crappy stuff I didn't want, I could buy bricks and do it myself. I bought one each of the two sizes, brought them home just to be sure they were perfect, measured how much distance I could cover with each set of two, measured the perimeter, figured out how many bricks I needed and how much it would cost--the same as the crappy artificial edging I didn't like--and went back to the store.

It took me a couple of hours to install the edging, but it's perfect. It fit exactly to the brick, is a nice random shape, blends in with the colors in the garden and the perimeter wall, and is the perfect finish to the project.

This morning, the guys were supposed to be here to remove the little, round, river rocks from the serpentine garden and replace it with desert gold ground cover, but when they weren't here, I just kept working without them and finished up at 11:30 am. I am good and tired, but pleased with how good it all looks! I cannot do the watering system myself, so have that left to finish, but everything else is done, done, and done.

And I ain't paying no mo money for people who don't show up to work!

Now, it's time to finish the office redo, which is mostly shredding old records, then finish the dresser refinishing project I began last summer! I have everything I need to finish that project, I just haven't done so, probably because once that stage is completed, I have to purchase wall-hung cabinets to finish the project.

And, one of these days, I'm going to have to deal with the boxes in the garage, aren't I.