Week ending 9/3/10

On Sunday, we worked 4 hours on a temporary fix for the patio and got nothing. The problem is that we put a patio set on a patch of grass outside the back door and closed off the sprinklers in that area. Between the dogs and the sun, it's become a dirt pit that kicks up huge amounts of dust that the dogs track in. As a result, the house is always dusty and we can't really sit outside. It's dangerous to walk on at night because of the holes.

The problem is that we don't want to spend a lot of money on a fix because eventually we are going to do a big project there - either a one-story enclosed porch, a nice deck or a two-story addition. This temporary fix is really about getting the dust abated and having a place to sit in the meantime. We were determined to find a cheap, easy fix that could be torn out later but haven't found it yet.

I'm still working on picking the interior paint colors. I put the color I thought was "it" on the wall and I hate it. It looks nothing like the chip and I'm not sure what to do now.

On Friday, the guy that cuts our lawn gave us a new tree that he even planted for us. He had it left from another job and it had outgrown the pot it was in. It's a ficus that matches our hedge, and for reasons unknown the hedge wasn't planted all the way to the back of the yard so there is a gap this tree is perfect for.

Here's a shot of Danny laying in the dirt. You can see just how bad the dirt situation is on the "patio." The cone is so he doesn't aggravate a hotspot on his skin.




Here's our new tree. It should fill the gap perfectly.

Here's more junk that was buried in the yard. The people who lived here before us must have just randomly tossed stuff in the yard instead of in the trash.