Monday, July 20, 2009

landscaping etc

First of all, I wanted to post a picture of our amazing new butcher block that Christen and Troy Bouffard gave us as a housewarming gift. Thanks guys! Troy does oustanding work. This is Purple heart and Maple.



Very nicely joined

As promised, here are some photos of our yard and landscaping work. I never thought we'd even really do a yard but here it is, mowed grass and all!


the yard from below, near the edge of the maintained part. There is 1/2 acre fenced in, the part behind me is natural treed but not very dense and has pathways. There are lots of low bush cranberries around, and the little treed area towards the left of the photo has some nice raspberries that should really take off with more sun now.


here's the view into the yard from our deck.


Marcy's garden is starting to take off, but we could use some rain!



Our boardwalk to the front door is basically done, with gravel I sorted from the driveway, the garden, a green strip, and a little retaining wall. I still need to cut those posts flush!


I finished the final part of the deck over the weekend, consisting of a small landing for another flight of stairs near the garage. This will be nice for bringing in firewood. Here also is one of the four gates into the yard (one on each side of the house, one by the driveway and one by the power line)


I also completely redid the top of the rail because I didn't like how it turned out the first time. The corners didn't touch. The I was a little short on wood due to my error (a 16' wide section of deck needs LONGER than 16' of rail because of the corners and overhang). I used all the wood for the landing, so nothing was wasted. Also, now the right side is up. Decking should have the end grain look like a smiley face, not a frowney face, so as it ages it cups in a way that it will shed water. It may be counter-intuitive, but this is how it works. Luckily I did the deck the right way.


Next step: Restain the decking, but other than that we can just enjoy our house!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wow!! That Roland is one pampered pet! We have to leave Cede at a kennel for a few days when we go out to the East Coast with Jess for the family reunion, and we toured the facility, which also showcases a similar type of lot that they call the "Sniffing Woods" and present as a real luxury for the dogs...and Roland has one everyday!! Very cool. Mom