Stairs are Done!

Curing

Big progress / Minor mishap

No pics yet...but the progress is that the concrete was delivered today! It was poured late in the day so no walking/rolling on the sidewalk until tomorrow night. It's so new and shiny...I want to touch it...but alas, no.

The mishap was the concrete truck pulling down our neighbor's cable line! I went ahead and called it in for him from work so he could get in the queue, but the earliest they can get to it is tomorrow. So no cable TV for Mr. Roland tonight. In return he let his dog loose and the contractor had to chase it out of our yard before it ran through the fresh concrete! Arg!

Now to connect them!

First step of deck stairs

Landing for deck stairs

Changes...before

So we're making some more improvements...and once again I forgot to take a before pic so this one will have to do. It's actually from before the landscaping project but you can get a good idea of the sidewalk before demolition.

All fenced in!

We finally got the yard fenced for the dog! She loves being able to run free. We went with the black vinyl clad and I think it looks really nice. Now we just need to get the steps built on the deck.

Azaleas-a-blooming!

The Azalea bushes from the November '08 Landscaping job are BLOOMING! I'll take some more pics of the other plants soon, but these are too pretty to ignore at this point.

Guest Bathroom Faucet

Ever since we had to use the guest bath during the main bath remodel there's been a problem with the sink faucet. The cold side when turned off would still run a small stream of water. Backing off the faucet a bit would make it stop and so that just turned into a routine...no problem. However, this week the hot side started doing the same thing only no amount of faucet adjusting would get it to turn off all the way...so there was a drip, drip, drip sound and hot water loss!

I used some of our Lowe's rebate cards to get a new faucet and DH installed it last night. It's Awesome!

New Thermostat!

I installed a new programmable thermostat! I can't believe we waited this long to finally do this. Our electric bill is not too bad and since we added better windows and a more efficient furnace and A/C unit over the last year or so our monthly bill has dropped a little bit. Still the idea of running the heat or cold while no one is home (except the dogs) is just crazy in terms of wasting energy. So I used some of our Lowe's Kitchen and Bath rebate cards to buy this and a new faucet for the guest bath.

Some Pics from the iPhone

Here are some pics from my iPhone. DH didn't get around to taking any pics and now it has snowed and you can't see the changes very much.

We're really happy with how it turned out!

Early Birds...

Okay, no pics AGAIN today because the workers showed up at 7:15 am and started putting in the PLANTS!!! I think they are trying to get it all done by TODAY! They had a truck load of river rock sitting in the front yard, ready to go. It looked like they had almost all of the plants in place when we finally left for work. I wish it wasn't going to be dark when we get home tonight...we'll have to wait until tomorrow to see the full results. I can hardly wait!

The Plan!

Here's the "Landscaping Plan" as drawn by the Landscaper, Phil Klemme. DH didn't have time to get pics this morning but we will try to get some tomorrow.

It's Begun!

The landscaping crew started today. They've already torn out the scallop cement edging and are removing all the old plants and debris. DH will try to get pics in the morning. I will also post "the plan" picture tonight.

Survey Says...

The surveyors came! Now we have 6 tall wooden stakes in our yard with little orange ribbons flapping in the breeze denoting the boundaries. DH spoke with our neighbors to let them know we were planning to fence the backyard...the boundary at one point is within 2 feet of their house so I'm not sure how well that is going to work as far as fencing. May have to move in a bit to make it reasonable.

Our other neighbor will probably be out there to move the stakes around, he's a bit old & crotchity like that! Plus we've had a few recent issues with his new dog and when I spoke to him about it he got mean and nasty....but hopefully things will work out.

"Dig Right" hase been by to mark the location of underground cables and pipes for the lanscaping crew. The crew should start this coming Tuesday. I still need to post...the "plan". DH will take a photo of it tonight.

Before Landscaping...

Here is the ugliness that is our current planting areas....we need help!




Overgrown mess! Can't wait to get this ripped out.