Whew!

At 6 am, I was outside beginning the last day of work on the yard, at least temporarily. I had hired the young man from down the street to come help me shovel the crushed rock, but he didn't show up until 9, so I sent him on his way without using him as I was 3/4 of the way done by then.

I not only had to bring in the crushed rock, but also had to bring in dirt to the areas where the ground was low so the crushed rock would be a finishing layer, but not too deep as it's expensive ground covering. I added dirt, watered it to level it, added the crushed rock, watered it again, and kept working the surface until it was level and smooth. Not perfect, but I'm good at puttering.

I am proud to say that at 10:30 am, a mere 4-1/2 hours after beginning, this part was finished. I'm still missing some rocks along the oleanders against the fence (where George's red car is parked), so I left a small pile of crushed rock on the driveway until I can fill in between the rocks and the paver patio. I'll try to finish up before son and I leave for Canada.

Yep, I bought both a ceramic pot (I filled it with day lillies, which I love) and the bird bath (on sale at K-Mart) so I could see some "decor" and not just pavers! I have a lead on a cement table in Joshua Tree that is also the deep red color, so I'll drive up there and see how much it will cost to add it to the patio. I'm also going to buy some copper lanterns, the kind that take candles, and use them to create ambiance. The big white lantern actually goes in the front yard, but I wanted to see how the lanterns would look before investing in 6 or so for this landscaping project.

Now, the best news is that Mike and Dave showed up to work on the house next door, which has been purchased by a lawyer who's buying up foreclosures and renting them. When Mike came over to ask me if I knew the nearest big box store, I asked him about making the doggie door fit. He looked it over, told me what he could do and how he could do it, and I offered to buy him the blade for his Skil saw if he could get the job done today. He's going to do it before he goes back to the house next door as he can work on that over the weekend and I'll be able to secure the house while I am gone this weekend. Hurrah!

So there you have it. My body aches from head to toe, but I did it! I landscaped my backyard and I did it all by myself. Mike did ask me about what I'm going to do for shade, and when I told him that my goal is to have a wooden shade structure similar to the one over the cement patio, he said he'd like to give me a bid on building it. I'm going to think about that during my travels the next 2 months and may just take him up on his offer when I am back home.