Trees in the Breeze 2

We have had an old gnarly willow in the front yard as long as we have lived here. With every year the tree has become more and more dilapidated. It was starting to look like we might need to put it out of its misery, when Mother Nature decided to step in.

One big windstorm later...

I was pretty impressed with the entire situation. I had recently gotten a few bids to get the tree cut down, and they were all upwards of $600, so I decided I would wait a little bit longer before taking care of it. Then one day, while I was reading a book, I heard a loud "whoomp". I look outside and there's the willow, cut down for me for free! It fell perfectly. It didn't hit any cars, didn't hit the driveway, and didn't hit the street. 

The icing on the cake came the next day when a guy driving down our street knocked on the door and asked if he could remove the tree for us if we would give him the wood. Of course!!

 

Win, win!

Burn Baby Burn August 2013

We have a lot of trees. Enough that we have to have a fire at least once a month to burn all of the fallen branches. This doesn't bother my husband a bit because he is a closet pyro. He loves fireworks and bonfires. Here's a pic of this month's fire. 

Garden Progress August 11, 2013

Gardening is an art. The more time I spend in my garden, the more I understand that I am a fledgling. My garden layout, which seems so perfect to me on paper, is usually a disaster in mid August. Momentarily, I struggle with the idea that I am a gardening failure. Then, as I stand amongst the tangle of bean and tomato plants (intermixed with more than a couple weeds) I am overcome by the majesty that is any garden.  I planted. I watered. Life sprung up all around me! Every year, despite my feelings of garden inadequacy (WHY didn't I weed more often, WHY didn't I get a better watering system figured out???) I find myself reveling in the fact that my garden is thriving.  So what if it doesn't look like Martha Stewart's garden. It's alive and it feeds me daily. What more, really, could I ask for...?

Beets, beans, tomatoes, onions, celeriac, and tomatillos...

The king of the garden. This zucchini came up volunteer and now covers at least 40 square feet!

The wilds. Can't seem to get the back part of this section weeded. There are too many tomato plants and no obvious or easily accessible starting point. No bother, I shall prevail. 

New Blog!

Welcome to our new blog! Casa de Sangue is our journal of home improvements and accomplishments. 

Pool Remodel April-July 2013

This spring we took one look at our pool and realized we were going to have to make some drastic repairs. The liner was at the end of its life, the cover was deteriorating, and the cement was falling away from the pool in one whole corner. It was quickly becoming an accident waiting to happen.   

After meeting with several pool contractors, we decided to hire Mitch Tuele at Pools West, to give our pool a facelift.

We decided to tear out all of the existing pool decking in order to put in a new under-mount automatic cover. In an attempt to stretch our budget as far as possible, we opted to tear out the decking ourselves. No small task. Breaking up and carting off 400+ square feet of concrete is a heavy, dirty job. Jack-hammering is really tough work too. 

After we removed the concrete, we removed the cover track and dismantled all of the cover mechanisms. Then it fell in!

Next, the liner and the old stairs came out. 

Then we defined the area we wanted as a pool patio and removed the sod. 

At this point, we decided it would be a good idea to add some depth to one end of our pool (originally, it was a "sport" pool, 3 foot deep on both sides and 6 foot deep in the middle). Our goal was to add two feet of depth to the far end. As added depth was not in the original bid, we opted to do it ourselves again. We rented a track hoe, which worked great for about a half an hour before overheating. 

Since it was midway through the weekend, all of the other machines were rented and we were out of luck.  So we started digging by hand. 350 cubic feet of hard packed dirt, rock and clay. Bucketful by bucketful. 

In the meantime (because removing that much dirt by hand takes a while) the contractors continued their work. 

They added a new steel wall in place of the old stairs and added new wedding cakes stairs at the opposite end of the pool (nearer the house!)

Next came the forms and pouring of the new pool deck, patio and stairs. 

As the forms came off, we were excited to see the patio shaping up. 

Finally, finishing work on the actual pool began. The floor was redone with a new layer of poolcrete, the liner was hung, and we started filling it with water. 

At this point, they installed the cover and motor and we got to open and close the pool cover at the touch of a button. It was so exciting!

Our new patio was significantly higher than our original patio, so we brought in a couple of truckloads of topsoil. 

Once the pool deck was finished, we went to work on the lower patio. In order to allow for drainage, we decided on a paver patio. 

The finishing touch, SOD. 

The final product...