yard slave...
seems to be my lot these days. I spent five hours yesterday cleaning the area enclosed by the remnants of the foundation of our old barn, which became a depository for things like my woodpile, my canoe, bricks and other things that didn't have anywhere else to be. Over the past few years it became a tangles mess of honeysuckle vines and looked like hell. Earlier this summer I hit the vines with some Round Up and they finally died off, so I chopped them down, dug out the roots and relocated what good wood was left to an inconspicuous spot in the back lot, built a pair of two by four brackets on the side of the garden shed to hold the canoe and begged a pallet from the landscape place next door and stacked all the loose bricks on it, also next to the garden shed. I'm going to dismantle the remaining brick foundation to just below ground level and, hopefully, will end up with enough brick to build a small garden wall on which I want to hang one of those neat, self contained wall fountains with a greenmans face that spits water. Maybe I'll espalier a quince bush on it as well, or maybe plant some ivy and let it grow over it. I still have to fill the hole left by the pool and when I order the topsoil to do that this autumn, I'm going to get enough extra to level out some places in the yard that hold water when we get a good rain and cut down the level of the soil inside the old foundation, so there's a nice gentle slope from the back of the manor all the way to the little brook. It will make mowing a bit easier and will leave a nice open stretch of ground on which to build a nice sixteen by twenty workshop. In another two weeks or so I'm going to start preparing the areas that will have evergreen shrubs planted in them next spring so we have a bit more privacy across the front of the property, as the increase of traffic brought with it an increase of noise and dust. I'm going to stop the shrubs even with each side of the house and continue across the front with a cast iron fence, with a nice gate on the front walk, with an iron arbor over it, so the ivy that fill the front of the property will eventually climb on the fence and arbor and separate the house from the street. I'm hoping it will look a bit spooky, too, which is an added bonus!
I've still got to re-roof the addition and finish up the bathroom, but that is going to wait for cooler weather, I've had my fill of working of roofs in the blazing summer sun. Not a good time.
I also measured out the area for a textured concrete patio off the kitchen today, it will be fifteen by fifteen feet, then an eight inch step down to another smaller section, probably fifteen by ten. Just big enough for Grillzilla and an small outdoor fireplace. I'm going to build a cantilevered arbor over that section, so there's some shade to stand and cook without being baked by the sun and it will offer some more privacy to that area of the property. The afore mentioned garden wall will go from the sidewalk to the end of the higher section of the patio and will be purposely built to look very old and decrepit. Considering my masonry skills, my best attempt at making a nice looking wall will probably yield just the right look! I may also build a pergola over the back walk with a gate midway to enter the garden proper. Lot's to do, but I finally am able to afford to do these things. I would have liked to have been able to do them over the past years, but college and other things the kids needed were, of course, more important, as well as getting rid of some other small debts, so now I actually have a few bucks to throw at this stuff.
Well, I'm off to cook dinner. I hope you had a wonderful weekend, and you have a great week ahead.
Be well, fellow wanderers. Fare thee well.
Oh, that's funny... when I ran spell check, it didn't recognize "woodpile" and suggested replacing it with Opedial... gotta wonder...

wander with me...