I've Created a MONSTER!

O.K. So I have told you how hard we have been working to get the outside of the house and yard really looking clean and neat. It was a chore way over due but, once again, when those new eyes saw the clutter, there was no stopping us.

Unfortunately, in this case, neat and clean bred more neat and clean...and more neat and clean-well, you get the idea!

Suddenly I found myself looking around for things to re-do. I may have posted that one of the things my brother and sister-in-law helped us with was the removal of the wooden deck that was right off of our sun room. It housed the bar-b-que- grill and my potting bench. It was the perfect solution as the water just ran right through the wooden slates so there was no build-up against the foundation of the house. But, alas, time and Florida took their toll on the wood and it was time to come out. If these wooden pallets were still available, I would simply have bought more because they just fit together like a puzzle and made the most perfect wooden deck without any of the usual "deck building" stuff. But, they are not.

So, on to plan B. I was thinking of buying pretty landscaping stones and laying them but then I realized that unless we really knew how to slope them correctly for water run-off, we might have water sitting up against the foundation and we actually had a problem of similar proportion years ago from the irrigation system and it was a costly repair. And so, I had to fall back on one of my least favorite solutions-rock. I am just not a big fan of rocks and stones in gardens but I think this will be perfect for this area as the rain can just run right through the rocks.

Of course, it isn't my favorite to walk on either but I had three stepping stones left from the side patio construction so they are helping.

And, of course again, I soooo under estimated how many bags of these things it would take. We started with 6 and looks like we are going to need about 18-20 more...oh my aching back-lol.

So here we are after 3 bags and it is VERY obvious we needed lots more...so, when the rain started to come down, we hopped in the car and headed back to Lowes-our current home away from home these days! We bought 15 more bags of stone-and we got it right on the money-it took every last one!

I am not the world's biggest fan of border grass because of how intrusive it can get. But, in this case, I have been pulling up wayward grass and planting it along the border of this patio. I am trying to have a softer edge-one less tripping hazard for us these days is a good thing! I am just hoping that this time it actually grows fast enough to hold all of those rocks right where they are!

Since I "cleaned" up the other side of the yard, all of my potting stuff is now on this bench or around the corner in a cupboard. As I am looking at this picture, I am already envisioning some hooks on the wall of the house to hold tools and maybe a pot of flowers or so. I also think it might be time to buy hubby a new grill cover. His old grill was so much larger and the cover was still OK when we down-sized...but, it may be time.

Of course, now that I will be over in this area a lot more these days, I have realized that I never got back to do the pressure cleaning on this side of the yard...I see another project in my future-yay! Stay tuned.