Home Improvements - One COMPLETED, One in the Works!

First off, i would like to thank my father for helping make the following project come to fruition. This has been on my TO DO list (i have a grandiose one that I started the first year i moved in, TEN YEARS AGO), granted, at the bottom, but one that i always envisioned and daydreamed about, and it finally HAPPENED!

We created a stone walk between the street and the sidewalk at the front of the house. Many times there's been rain or snow and i thought it would be nice to have a solid path there. So two days ago, we just DUG RIGHT IN, quite literally. Dad went to Lowe's and bought black paper liner (to keep the weeds out once we dug), small gravel stones and some long edging stones that he says were only 20 cents each! That's my kinda price. The large flagstone we already had in our backyard that at one time lined the "garden" in the back, which has long since overgrown. Eek.


Dad and i took turns digging the grass up, just under the roots. We also took turns getting most of the dirt off the 'sod patch' so we could keep that good dirt and pitch the grass. Sammy helped (or so he'd like to think!). Actually, Sam was being AWESOME. So cute with his comments, one of which went something like, "Mommy... you're doing a VERY GOOD job" and "Mommy... i really like the way this looks." Why thank you Sam.

Thom was being an angel as well. But it could be that he was just siked that we had included him: I set up his Exersaucer on the front porch in direct view of our activity, so he screeched and cooed from up there, in the shade with a nice breeze.

Our next endeavor: A Veggie Garden. Dad and Ron worked diligently together on plotting out the rectangle in our backyard and rototilling it up. There are clumps of grass sod (much like the front path project) here and there in the area that Dad is working on getting out. It started raining on him (and Sam) so he had to cut the day short. Which is fine. I personally think he needed a break from all the activity the day before AND 2 days before that with the front stone path. Dad's a trooper. He's not letting on to back pain if he's got it; i know that i was a mess this morning, feeling about 89 years old and very outta shape. Muscles i didn't know i had were aching. Oof.

The next step is installing some wooden sides and Ron suggested some fencing to keep the critters out. An excellent idea. More photos and stories as they develop!