Winter 2008
This is a picture that I took during our inspection in March of 2008 - after our offer was accepted but before we closed on the house. You can see the barbed wire fence, the ditch, the dead grass and the plentiful assortment of our neighborhood’s trash.Summer 2008 (not knowing I’d need “before” pictures, this is all I’ve got)
I took this picture when I got home from vacation in July of 2008. We’d closed on the house two months prior - Ryan was feverishly working on his thesis and I was sick, sick, sick pregnant with Collin. We’d done everything we could just to keep the lawn mowed, and we had done NOTHING to the backyard and its tree line. Can you say Amazon?Summer 2009 (another shot that just happens to have the trees in its background)
Despite its appearance, we had done a lot of work in the trees by our second summer. We’d gotten the barbed wire removed and cut back most of the limbs which hung too low in the yard or were within arms’ reach. We’d also worked to fight back against the unkempt lawn (thank goodness for Weed & Feed) and purchased a new lawn mower. Despite all our efforts, though, the weeds and trees were still super thick.Spring 2010
This was last Spring. By this point, we’d spent numerous more hours cutting back trees and even taking out two. We’d tromped down the weeds and done a lot of burning. We thought it was looking right nice. Little did we know…Spring 2011 (today)
Ta-da! This is our tree line today. Pretty unbelievable, eh? Ryan (with the help of a friend) removed 9 clusters of trees. He also removed their stumps. In all, he used and destroyed 7 chains on two chain saws.
Here’s one of the many stumps Ryan removed. (I asked Collin to stand next to it so you could see its size; this is the best I got…). First, we called a stump-grinding company, but at $2 per inch of diameter, Ryan scoffed. Then we tried burning it out for a few days (see the charred parts?), but it did little damage. Then we opted for good ol’ back-breaking labor. Look what my Mister Muscles can do!
Yep, that’s our wood pile. (Again I asked Collin to stand next to it for size comparison, but he insisted on showing off this screw. Silly, silly boy.) We’ve burned a lot of the medium and small things, and Ryan hauled three pickup-truck loads to a friend’s place - This is just the remaining large logs. Oh, and did I mention that it’s two deep? Yeah, it’s a lot of wood.I think the saddest part is that this Osage-orange wood burns too hot for indoor fireplaces, therefore we can only use it in bonfires and when camping. I was so wishing we’d be able to make more progress on our emergency preparedness, but no luck.
After he got all the trees cut down and their stumps removed, we were stuck with the challenge of leveling the dirt, and of course filling in the massive holes left behind by the stumps. We looked into renting a bobcat, but in true Williams-fashion, Ryan did all the labor with a shovel and hoe. Did I mention his new name is Mister Muscles?
So we thought the hard part was done when the ground was ready, but then we faced the building of the set. After lying down landscaping fabric (gotta do something to discourage those weeds from returning), it was time to get started. Ha-ha. The swing-set came with a 50-page manual and a DVD showing how to build it. They estimated a total of 23 hours of labor! Thankfully, our wonderful neighbor came over to build with Ryan every Tuesday and Thursday evening, and Ryan worked tirelessly on Saturdays too.
After the set was finished (about a month later), we dug a trench and put in landscaping edging.
And what would a children’s play area be without a sand box? We got this beauty from someone’s trash about a year ago. It served to hold the tools while the set was built, and then after a good scrub-down with bleach and dish soap, we added about 8 bags of sand. Total cost? $11. Oh yeah. Collin LOVES it.The next step was to dump 30 bags of mulch in. It is only a thin layer, but it will do for this year. Then we cut and laid rubber mats in the “fort,” its sitting area, and as a path up to the set.
But were we finished? Nope. What about the ditch? In our early planning stages, we contemplated filling the ditch with dirt and then grassing it over, as some of our neighbors have done, but we opted to keep it. Instead, Ryan snagged some wood from our neighbor’s garbage and built this cute little bridge. Collin loves it, and I’m hoping he’ll build a matching one for the other side next summer.
Summer 2012 What? No picture? Yep, no picture for this one, seeing as it is next year. Our long term goals include – purchasing rocks and pebbles to fill the ditch (cha-ching), replacing the rubber stepping-stone mats with stone stepping-stones (another cha-ching), building a fire pit with landscaping stone (do you hear the wallet emptying?), building a stone patio to surround the fire ring (more credit card swipes), and planting grass everywhere there’s no mulch and no stones (not too expensive, but still something that needs to wait).
I have to say all these goals seemed far from attainable, but now that I’ve seen what my Mister Muscles can do (with a little help from his wifey, I might add), I think we may actually have quite the little backyard escape one day.
Anyway, the finishing touches on the other half of the "tree line" will all have to wait. It got much too hot too quickly around here, we’ve got other plans for our funds (a basement escape too?), and we’re ready to have our daddy back!
Conclusion
Okay, and now it’s time for some wonderful candids of my kiddos enjoying their wonderful new play set. Some of them are when it wasn’t quite finished, as you’ll see some missing windows, no mulch, and no foam mats.
Aww, what happy kids. And we all know that happy kids mean a happy mommy. Thank you, Daddy! We love you!
