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    We're two avid DIY-ers raising two rambunctious boys while tackling large and small projects, living to share our tale. All with the hope to inspire and encourage others.

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Rock On, Dude

For a while, the landscape of our house has been neglected.  First by the previous owner and then us.  Some attempts at landscaping were made, but not maintained.  So when we bought this house, the front yard looked like a mess of dead, overgrown grass and weeds.

Right-Side-Driveway-April-2012

Because it was dead, overgrown grass and weeds.

Far-Right-Side-Driveway-April-2012

All over.

Left-Side-Driveway-April-2012

Then we took a weed whacker to it and tamed the beast.

Left-Yard-Last-Year

Crazy to actually see the plants tucked behind that.

Right-Yard-Last-Year

But it grows back, looking a little, nay, a lot like Donald Trump’s hair; long, thin, side swept, and unmanageable.  Because the hills are so steep and many large rocks punctuate the hillside, it would be impossible to maintain nice grass.  Factor in minimal rainfall and it’s hard to keep anything alive without an outrageously expensive water bill.  So we’re going with more rock.  Doesn’t need water or maintenance, and cuts down on the dust storms.

Right-Side-Driveway-Rocks

The past few weekends we’ve cut out the weeds, laid weed mat, and schlepped rocks.  Even yesterday when temps reached the mid 90′s.  Yes, crazy for this time of year.  Lots of water and lemonade.

Front-Landscape-Rocks

Ahh, clean, blank canvas.  Maybe this fall we’ll be able to plant drought resistant plants, to green things up.

Front-Landscape-with-Rocks

If I’m lucky, some flowers for color.

Front-Right-with-Limestone

Most of the front side has been rocked, but we’ve got the other side to deal with.

Front-Yard-by-Deck-Before

Which included cutting back part of the railing-less, unsafe deck to the front door to get the Bobcat across.  Once the rock has been distributed, we’ll make a new walking path and steps up.

Landscaping-Front-Yard-Deck-Out

All that to say this: digging out weeds and hauling rocks is not fun, but we’re eager to get it finished and start on some fun projects.  Like a deck in the backyard.  Ben found a great deal on reclaimed wood, so we’ve nixed the concrete patio.  Instead we’ll have a low deck.  And we’re crazy excited about it.

Rock Wall, Waterfall

About that waterfall I mentioned last week.  How’s about a little more info?  Getting a finished patio in the back yard is a priority for this spring/summer.  Getting all heavy lifting done is key.  The waterfall was all Ben’s idea.  He has a knack for coming up with awesome ideas to complicate his life.  But they’re worth it in the end.  Here’s our rough landscape plan:

Back-Yard-Landscape-Plan-Sept-2012

The waterfall is made up of linear-ish stones we pulled from our property.  A meandering rubber backed stream filled with river rock (also taken from our property) meets the rock cliff.

Testing-Waterfall

Below, a hidden pond collects the water.  Hidden pond, what?  I’m glad you asked.  Ben dug a hole, lined it with a thick rubber, then placed plastic containers inside.  The containers have holes, allowing water to circulate and river rock fills the gaps, but the rubber liner holds water in the whole area.  The uncovered box will hold a submersible pump (to get the water up the hill).  Three other boxes store water, which we covered with flat stones before covering with crushed limestone.

Covering-Waterfall-Hidden-Pond

After living with the fountain that was in the back yard, we realized an open pond would quickly get filled with dirt, leaves, sticks, and rocks.  Some naturally landing in, other tossed in by the boys.  An open pond is also a safety hazard with two young kids around.

Waterfall-Stream-and-Filling-Pond

Instead, we’ve got a pond you can walk on.  As you can see, we’ve got more rock to haul up, but we’ve made tons of progress already.

Waterfall-Stream-and-Hidden-Pond

After the rock we can add plantings, pour a patio, and carry on with the rest of our plans, including a fire pit and pergola.  Grrrr, baby.  Very grrr.

Rockin’ Around the Clock

Last week, spring seemed to have sprung.  Temps in the high 60′s and sunshine.  So we made hay.  Not literally, but we got work done while the weather cooperates.  Landscaping the back yard.  Montana is dry and our lot is essentially a dirt pile, so we’ve decided to use rock to help cut down the dust.  Boy, our house gets dusty quickly!

Boulders from our property at the base make a natural retaining wall.

Boulders-and-Landscaping-in-Back-Yard

Close to the pool house, we have to build stairs to connect to the stairs to nowhere.

Back-Yard-Landscaping

After lining with weed-proof plastic, we layered large crushed limestone.

Large-Rocks-in-Back-Yard

And filled in the gaps with small crushed limestone, meeting up with the stream and waterfall.  Later this year, we can add plantings to soften the slope and add interest.

Back-Yard-Landscaping-Left-Side

Over the weekend we tested the waterfall.  (More about it soon).  And love it.  The sound, the look, it’s relaxing.

Once we get rest of the rock on the hill, we hope to pour our concrete patio.  Because right now we’ve got a dirt/mud pit.

Back-Yard-Patio-Area

Who’s excited to spend more time outdoors?  I don’t know it I’ll want to leave the yard once we’re done.

Coloring Book

Even though it’s January and we’ve got temps in the high twenties, Ben and I are already thinking, planning, and talking about the exterior of our house.  Before we know it, warmer Spring weather will be here, giving us the prefect weather to tackle outdoor projects.  Like installing the rest of the house windows and new siding.  To help us decide on products, finishes, and styles, I made a coloring book version of our house.

Exterior-House-Outline

Just a to scale outline of the prominent features.  While in Photoshop, I made a few siding styles.

Exterior-House-Partial-Outline-with-Coloring

Currently, the front-runner is a combo of horizontal siding with board and batten for the bump outs and peaks, kind of like this.

And fiddled with different features.  One big change we’re planning is converting the dining window to a sliding door and extending our deck over.

Exterior-House-Partial-Outline-with-Deck

The garage end is mostly a tall blank canvas, desperately needing some detail.

Exterior-Garage-Outline

Maybe all horizontal siding on the bottom with natural cedar board and batten on the peak?

Exterior-Garage-with-Coloring-Natural-Cedar

Or painted board and batten with a pergola detail over the garage doors.

Exterior-Garage-with-Coloring

Perhaps similar to this one?

At any rate, we need to break up the exterior with at least two, preferably three finishes.  Now I’m curious, how many different materials are on the exterior of your home?  Do you have a tall house you’ve added interest to?

In Limbo

An alternate title could be Over Our Heads.  Yesterday, we were playing in the trees.  Cutting one down.  Specifically the biggest tree on our property, the locust seen below.

In a way, we’re sad to see if go.  We’re fans of trees, having planted 18 at our first house.  Before you start hating me for cutting down a mature tree, listen to the reasons.  One, the tree is too close to the house; about 10 feet.  Two, this tree is big, and hasn’t reached full size.  And three, the tree’s roots are too high up, so excavating would have killed the tree.  Because the tree is so close to the house and we can’t get a lift up there, it was a bit tricky to cut down.  Having a lift would mean starting from the top, cutting small pieces off at a time.  Ben has cut down about 20 large trees at the apartment complex he works for without any problems.  This smaller (compared to the large cottonwood trees at his work) should be easy enough.

The boys and I watched from the house as Ben notched out the first limb, tied a rope to it, and cut through while Handy Sammy pulled to make sure it landed safely.

Easy and worked like a charm.  But that was the first branch.  The one furthest away from the house.  See that large center branch?  It is a beast.  The guys assumed it would be easy because the first one went so well.  Following the same process, they started working on the biggest branch.  And then it got complicated.  The branch was heavy and naturally wanted to fall toward the house, despite the notch Ben cut.  In fact, it started pinching the chain saw.  Luckily, Ben’s tree cutting experience warned him this could get ugly.  So he stopped cutting and left the chain saw in place, effectively preventing the branch from falling on the house.

Any time Ben’s working on something like this, I’m a nervous, anxious mess.  First and foremost, I’m concerned for his safety.  This time I worried about the house, too.  Not knowing exactly what was going on, I asked if I could help.  Ben yelled at told me to get more rope.  That’s when I knew this was serious and wasn’t going as planned.  Kind of how you know a three a.m. call isn’t going to be good news.  And I thought we were in over our heads.

I found tow straps in the truck.  Sam and I looped the straps around our bodies, pulling on the limb with all our weight.  Ben tied the saw to another branch (so it wouldn’t fall to the ground or on him) and pushed the branch while praying for it to fall the right way.  After several extremely tense (both physically and mentally) minutes, we got the branch down, safely in the yard.  Whew, what a moment of relief.  I may have gotten misty eyed knowing everything was okay.  Of course I have no pictures of this, but you can see that branch on the ground in the picture below.

The last two limbs went just as smoothly as the first.  And then time for clean up.  Ben cut the limbs in manageable, fire-place sized pieces.  Can I add he looked mighty fine while doing so?  Because he did, safety glasses and all.

Smaller branches are in the yard waste bin, ready for pick up.

Between cutting the tree, Ben was loading more dirt for Craigslisters to haul away.  Two birds, one stone.  We’ve still got the stump to deal with.  The plan is to dig out a little more around the base using the bobcat, then pull on it to hopefully get the majority of the roots.

So that’s our (not so) little tree cutting adventure.  Definitely stressful, but we’re glad to be done.

How was your weekend?  What did you do?  Have you cut down a tree?  Did it go smoothly?  Or with a little bump in the road?

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