Posted by admin | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 28-06-2010
When we decided to renovate the yard, this meant taking out the three raised beds we’d put in previously for vegetable gardening, however upon seeing one eggplant plant doing well and fruiting we decided to leave one bed in to see if the vegetables would grow, and they did! There are a few eggplants growing on the plant including this one 
Hopefully some grilled eggplant on the BBQ soon! Other than that I haven’t planted anything except some tomatoes in tubs. I have some tubs that I had some success with growing tomatoes in before so I decided now space was scarce to start over in tubs and containers. I sowed some seeds and now have 2x 8″ high tomato plants growing in one container!
I also noticed when taking these photo’s that I already have some flowers growing on the plants too! Yay!
Hopefully share more pics and details soon as plants go, plans for the garden and pool party bbq fun!
Posted by admin | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 24-06-2010
So since having the fence and wall done the construction guys have been back with some dirt to level off the yard. Now we have a lovely level surface to plan with. Grass? Jacuzzi? Bark? Yeah now we have to figure out the next steps for the yard!
As you can see still some construction and planning going on! Lots to think about and having a flat area gives us more options After getting the BBQ and cleaning the pool we’ve used the back yard MUCH MUCH MORE recently than we ever did over the last 8 years! We aren’t the only ones enjoying it either…
River has already got a her favorite spot for sunbathing! She prefers the south west corner, near the gate and orange tree. Sky prefers the patio on the dog bed, that is when she’s not out smelling the flowers and investigating noises
Speaking of plants I should update soon on my vegetables!!!
Posted by admin | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 22-06-2010
So a bit of an update regarding the back yard. We’ve been out there such a lot since having the fence up that we are VERY happy with our privacy now!!! Just to answer a couple of questions about the fence. It is one solid fence the whole width of the property line but we have one bit that sticks out a little as a ‘fake fence’. You can see it on the photo below, where it’s in front of the fence and about 1′ shorter then the main fence.
This fence is a little L-shaped fence around the pool equipment so we don’t see the equipment from the patio This photo shows the detail better
Then as you walk around you can get in to access the pump, filter, and timer
Of course we also added to the yard by purchasing a new BBQ. We were going to have a built in BBQ but instead opted for a freestanding one we could move should we need to. The beauty of this one is we bought the conversion kit and it’s hooked up to the natural gas line out in the yard! Sure cooks faster than the oven in the kitchen I’ll tell ya!!!
More soon, including vegetable update, dogs, and jacuzzi shopping maybe!
The fence is complete! Sitting in the garden feels so much different now. All we can see now looking out is the tops of the hills behind us Certainly feels a lot different. Initially it was pretty closed in feeling but once you get over that it’s pretty good.
As you can see the fence around the pool filter is up and the returns around the edge to the walls are up.
Another thing that needs doing is some soil/dirt needed to backfill.
Now to update on the front with the driveway, and progress as we complete little jobs on the back yard! We want the fence doing in the side yard on the kitchen side of the house, but waiting for the neighbors to get money for their half. Would love a wood fence there rather than the chain link due to next doors dogs. More projects coming soon!
Today mostly the guys just finished off the fence and put the gate in. The pool filter got plugged back in today and we’ll be having a little fence around the pool filter to blend in with the main fence, just enough room to get around and work/clean the pool filter. Speaking of pool it’s looking pretty disgusting right now 
Fence is almost done! Wow this went up FAST! Again missing a few pics due to change of memory card in the camera but this sucker went up really fast! Had a few guys here today
As you can see above the gate needs putting in and below the fence turns the corner and needs the ‘returns’ done to the wall.
More to come soon!
First of all apologies for the lack of updates. We went on a mini break dirtbiking but also we switched blog servers and are now on WordPress which I am more familiar with and honestly the post scheduling actually works here unlike movable type where it appears not to! Also, hey – new template! Hopefully working on widgets etc soon and updating more often So anyway back to renovations!
As you may remember in the last post, the guys had done the retaining wall, and broke up the concrete plus the pool filter was still in place. Well the guys worked long and hard drilling out the remainder of the concrete poolside slab, backfilling against the wall, plumber came to remove the pool filter and prep for setting it back 5ft, plus they began work on the driveway! Sheesh I’m exhausted just watching them! I did have photo’s of this but seems that I can’t find that memory card (we got a new camera) if I find them I’ll upload later.
The next day the concrete was delivered! This was a big load of concrete as they had to do the back poolside patio and the driveway. Here is Manny ‘floating’ the poolside slab.
Not a huge change from before, yet!
We decided at this point to add on some other jobs to the workload, namely removing a tree from the side yard and ripping out the existing fence and replacing it to match the new fence, with a gate. Makes sense really so here are some before, and in progress pics of that.
Before: pretty overgrown, darn tree that grew from nowhere and get sick of cutting down. And a useless fence!
Progress: Plants are out and the fence is gone! Looks better already!
More soon!
As you can see this is the East side of the yard, which was the problem area due to subsidence and the poolside sliding away. The guys broke up the cracked concrete slab and backfilled the wall.
It was today we got a guy to come out and look at the pool filter, which as you can see is stranded in the middle of the poolside patio area! Not good! Anyway Kelly is coming on day 7 to remove it, extend the electrical and plumbing and mount it flush to the fence moving it 5ft back. Hurrah! Sure would be in the way where it is now for sure!!!
More pics to come soon, day 7 – concrete slab completely removed and pool filter removed plus work begins on widening the driveway!!!
The wall is done! Backfilling underway, and I didn’t take a photo but some destruction of the poolside began on day 5! Looks like more breaking up of the poolside for day 6 then more backfilling, and concrete!
Day 4 and more blocks in the wall! The East side of the yard has wall to the level height. Reaching the top of the rebar here, and work is progressing!
As you can see the West side isn’t complete yet, but it’s getting there! Just a little ways to go to level it all off.
Coming soon, breaking concrete!
