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Pic-a-day 12/21/2014  | Pic-a-day 12/20/2014  | Pic-a-day 12/19/2014 day 3  | Pic-a-day 12/18/2014 - day 2 sourdough starter  | Pic-a-day 12/12/2014 first pour of snot  | Pic-a-day 12/08/2014  | Pic-a-day 12/6/2014 nailed it  | Pic-a-day 12/1/2014 back in business  | Pic-a-day 11/29/2014  | Pic-a-day 11/25/2014  |
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BizB
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Back Yard
2006-05-07 |
This weekend, I decided to rent a roto-tiller and tackle the part of the back yard that has been driving me nuts. When I moved into this house, the back yard was sort of split-level. Near the house the ground was about 12 inches higher than it was beyond the garage. Where the grade changed, there was a pretty significant hill. When I built the deck, I needed some filler where the steps used to be so I stole from that hill hoping to even it out a bit. What I accomplished by doing that was to create a low spot in the middle of the hill. Feh.
Saturday, with a truck-load of little-girls in tow, I went to American Rent All and picked up a roto-tiller. I was a bit surprised by the per hour charge of $22.00. I thought this little project of mine would take most of the day. After all, I needed to till an area about 20' by 30'. I was nearly done tilling by the time I thought of taking pictures and at that point, I just didn't feel like it. So, here's an "after-shot" of the area that I tilled and raked and raked and raked . Before I started tilling, I had to pick up all the bricks that I intend to use for the fire-pit. These bricks can be seen in this picture  .
Having accomplished the task of tilling 600 square feet in just under two hours, I now had to figure out a way that the dog and the kids could get beyond the area which will be freshly planted after tonight. I mean, the poop-area and the trampoline and swingset are all on the other side of the freshly plowed earth.
A walkway would be good. Let's build a walkway!
BBCK and I went to Home Depot and Lowe's before we settled on a brick to use. I could have spent as much as $120 on the bricks which will make up this 22 foot long walkway. I opted for simple bricks that cost $50.00. Sand bags for leveling the area were going to cost $40 if I had bought them at Lowe's, so I decided to wait and get sand at Sandman Yard Sales.
After I got the bricks home and unloaded, I called Sandman and asked them about their price for sand. The lady that I spoke with took the dimensions of the area that I was trying to level and said, "Just a moment." When the hold-music stopped, a man's voice said, "Are you leveling a pool?"
"No. I'm doing a 22 foot long walkway."
"With pavers?"
"Yes.
"Do you have screenings?"
"What?"
"Screenings. You need 3 inches of screenings to keep the ground from frost heave."
"Oh. How much of that do I need?"
"It looks like one ton should take care of it."
"Okay, a ton of screenings and what about the sand?"
"I think you could get away with 7 or 8 bags of sand."
I verified what time they close on Sunday and gathered up BBCK for the trip out Airport Highway. Within 30 minutes, I was headed back home with 2000 lbs of screenings and 6 bags of sand. The truck was a low. ride. errr. I had to take it easy on the bumps so that it didn't bottom out.
After we got the screenings and sand home, BBCK and I hopped on the bike and went to a Mudhens game compliments of my employer. We were in the corporate suite. Very nice. I could get used to that. We didn't stay for the whole game, instead leaving at the top of the 7th inning as there was still much work to do.
Back home, I started digging the trench for the materials that would make up this walkway. . I measured out some inches from the garage at both ends and ran a string to guide me.  . Oh, I also picked up some conduit when we were at Lowe's. That stuff is cheap. I'll use that later to make sure the ground is even across the path. Half of the trench dug, I realized that I would have a lot more raking to do when I was finished with the path . I completed the excavation and began filling with 3 inches of screenings. I used a wheelbarrow to transver the screenings from the truck to the back yard . After the screenings were all laid to an even depth, I used the garden hose to spray it down and compact the material  . Using sand as the next layer, I got the area level and even. Then, I started putting down the bricks  . One by one, I added bricks after hauling them from the driveway in the wheelbarrow (that thing got a good workout this weekend.)  . I raked dirt up to the edges of the walkway and smoothed out the remaining dirt across the yard  . I also spread sand across the walkway and swept it in to fill the cracks.
New things always look better when wet. As such, I wetted the bricks and took a couple of pictures...
 
Diz was completely worn out by all the activity.  |
 sopops Wed May 10 03:53:39 PM
Buzzed again- now that looks more like it!!!
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 Betty Boop Wed May 10 03:31:51 PM
Please extend our congratulations on to her. We are so proud!
Congrats on your haircut! It must be getting warm up there in the north country! Looks nice and you have quite a tan too - did you get that here?!? 
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 BizB Wed May 10 02:35:46 PM
Tonight, I'll be attending BBCK's Cooperative Honors dinner. She's being recognized for honors level grades 3 quarters in a row. I'll take some pictures and make an update on the event.
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Betty Boop Wed May 10 07:38:46 AM
there is a note for BBCK.
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sopops Tue May 09 04:12:32 PM
Big Bro you havent lost your wonderful sense of humor so dont sweat it!!!
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 BigBro Tue May 09 12:18:35 PM
I don't know which is worse "Goofy Gerivs" or "Col. Klink"
Lately the Wife as a few other names for me, none but the brave ask what they are...
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sopops Tue May 09 07:39:46 AM
Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 for Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2)
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/default.mspx
Has some neat stuff and I wont be using Firefox anymore.
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Betty Boop Tue May 09 07:33:33 AM
BigBro - now, just how could someone called "Goofy Gervis" for years be considered a fraud? Huh? Huh? 
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BigBro Mon May 08 09:42:02 PM
My builder put in a culvert along the ditch, I'll get a photo posted soon. The work begins.
Biz, you blew my cover... Now the folks will think I'm a fraud. Damn
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BizB Mon May 08 07:03:43 PM
I'm going to build a fire pit right next to the deck.
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sopops Mon May 08 04:36:51 PM
Job well done!! I would never have had the patience to get the bricks so well placed. You and Big Bro have gone beyond what the old do it youreself guy could ever do. Now the old bricks still remain, whats the plan??
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BizB Mon May 08 03:54:57 PM
http://www.wane.com/Global/story.asp?S=4871223&nav=0RYd
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BigBro Mon May 08 03:53:51 PM
I made it up... sounds very authentic does it not?
I wouldn't just cut and paste from google news... that would be way too simple.
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Betty Boop Mon May 08 03:37:16 PM
BigBro - did you copy that info from the paper - I never knew you to follow baseball?
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BigBro Mon May 08 03:13:04 PM
Looks like Diz has your street's biggest cat box to use now...
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BizB Mon May 08 02:51:32 PM
All good information, but did the hens ever strike out #4 so that we could all have some Toft's icecream?
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BigBro Mon May 08 02:43:42 PM
The Hens won the game
Raburn hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning and singled to drive in the winning run as the Toledo Mud Hens defeated the Richmond Braves six-five in ten innings today.
The Mud Hens trailed five-one entering the sixth after the Braves' Dax Norris hit a two-run single and Jamal Strong drove in two runs on a triple before scoring on a balk in the fourth.
Toledo tied the game at five on an R-B-I single from Tike Redman in the ninth.
Lee Gardner got the win for the Mud Hens, giving up one hit in one inning. The Braves' Wayne Franklin allowed one run and two hits in a third of an inning.
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Betty Boop Mon May 08 12:37:12 PM
Wow, what a great job you did. We are so proud of our boys (men) and what they are able to do. Boty you and Big Bro are excellent have excellent workmanship. Kudos, kid!
From the looks of the job done, it doesn't matter too much about the $$ expended.
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BizB Mon May 08 09:06:59 AM
For the record, the screenings and sand cost more than the bricks.
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