May 11, 2009

Paving A Walkway






       The first step was to remove the old cement and to make sure that the area to be dug out was at least one foot deep.






       Next, 3/4″ gravel stone was laid and then tamped down by that yellow machine.   Then two inches of concrete sand was spread and tamped down over the gravel. This locks the bricks into place and holds them steady, to prevent the pavers from shifting postion over time.






       Next, the guys laid 1″ pipe on each side of the walkway.   By sliding a board over these pipes, they were able to create a level surface to build the walkway.






       A Herring Bone pattern was used for the antique style brick pavers.   The border of sideways bricks for this walkway is called a Sailor’s course.   If you line the bricks up the other way it would be called a Soldier’s course.





       See the line of bricks on top of the walkway?   They will trace those brick with chalk, then follow the chalk marks with the saw, to create the correct shape of the path.





       The last step of this process was to sweep stone dust into all the cracks.   This helps hold all the bricks into place.

5 tails... pull another

May 5, 2009

Before





       Every year we pick a few projects to do around the house.   Last summer we had our house redone wiith vinyl siding and we extended the pipe under our driveway to deal with erosion issues.   One of our projects this time around is to remove the old ugly concrete walkway and garage entryway that spoils the look of the front of our house.





       You can see how the concrete here is cracked and buckling.





       I guess it’s no wonder that this is happening, as this concrete was poured back in 1956.   I’ll do a seperate post to show you what we did to replace this unslightly mess.

5 tails... pull another

April 27, 2009

More firewood





       We hired a tree service to inspect all of our large locust trees which were close enough to our house to do major damage, if they were to fall on our home.   Eight trees were identified as being rotted inside.   How was this assessed?   A hole was located and a stick inserted.   Damp saw dust was scooped out from inside the trees, as evidence that the trees were indeed rotting and potentially dangerous.   Many of them were also leaning towards the house.   This new wood pile is THREE rows deep.





       I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw this and I couldn’t watch for long, I think my fear of heights started to kick in.





       The next day, we hired a stump grinder to get rid of all the remaining stumps.   as you can see, we still have lots of trees left!

9 tails... pull another

February 3, 2009

Winter Landscapes



       View from a west window.

       Burning bush isicles

       Cardinal on a rare sunny day.

       Wood for next winter.

7 tails... pull another

January 20, 2009

Cat theatre



       We have had quite a time of it, these past few days.   We have experienced frozen washing machine water pipes, and have had TWO visits by our friendly neighborhood tow truck service, as Megan and Chris both managed to get stuck in our own driveway.

       I should also mention that our snow plow driver broke his plow while clearing our snow!

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December 29, 2008

Broken Tree



       After dealing with all the downed trees last summer, we thought we were done with the yard clean up for a while, anyway.   We did have a wind storm, but this happened beforehand.

       On closer inspection, you can see that this tree was completely hollow, down by the base of it’s trunk.

       Ben usually parks his car in this spot, but I think this it’s time to change his parking space.   This was way too close for comfort!

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December 18, 2008

My favorite ornaments


Now that I finally have my tree up I can share a few ornaments with you.

This bird was the first ornament I ever bought.   It was the start of my bird ornament collection.

Chris’ mom gave me this ornament many years ago.   It used to be displayed on his family’s tree when he was a child, so I guess this one would be the oldest.

Ben made this star in nursery school.

Now you knew I had to have at least one cat ornament.   Mostly, I have a lot of bird ornaments, but I think I will save them for a later post.

7 tails... pull another

December 15, 2008

My first Christmas Tree



       This is a picture of me and my first Christmas tree.   When I was growing up, my family celebrated both Christmas and Hanukkah, but I never had a Christmas tree until I moved in with Chris.   We have had a live tree every year since.

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December 13, 2008

Hollow Tree


       Do you remember the tree that broke in half during the September wind storm, which added to the mess of downed trees in our back yard?   HERE is the picture, if you need a memory refresher.

       The reason that tree snapped off in the middle was that is hollow inside.

       Do you think this hole might be a home for squirrels?

       I liked this photo.   It’s just a small sliced view of this tree.

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December 10, 2008

My mom’s roosters



These roosters sit on the mantle of my fireplace.

I wish I knew something more about them.   All I know is that they originally belonged to my mom.

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