Please Excuse Our Mess...

While We Are Under Construction...

I definitely need one of these signs right now as we are in the midst of putting in a walkway for the daycare from the driveway to the back patio door. Up until now there has justbeen a grass slope, which doesn't work so well when it's rainy or dewy or muddy or I'm sure when it's snowy and icy.

We talked about having concrete poured with steps - which probably would have been our easiest option, but it was so expensive. We talked about putting in a walkway and steps using stone pavers, but again, a pretty expensive option right now - especially with things still being rocky with the economy, we decided an option that allows to keep more of a rainy-day stash would be better. We considered just holding off, but we knew that having a separate entrance available for the daycare was really necessary for me to be able to maintain a balance and separation of our family space vs. the daycare space - for my sanity, for Bronson's, for those days when I just don't want to have the upstairs very clean, to maintain a level of professionalism with our "business" entrance, etc.

So, Bronson designed a walkway and step layout using big timbers and excavated land, with the path base to be river rock. So river rock, wooden step, river rock, wooden step, river rock, wooden step, etc. Each boxed in to keep the stone in place, every landing graded so that drainage problems don't crop up, every landing exactly measured and levelled so that if we want to replace the stones with the stone pavers in the future, it's all set for it. The poor guy has been excavating the steps and landings for the past nearly 2 weeks and has gotten pretty far, but is still going. On the days he works, he works on the walkway from the time he gets home until dark, on the weekends, from right after breakfast until dark - excavating wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow full of dirt by hand, then measuring, leveling, grading it to precisely where it needs to be - for hours on end. I am so thankful I have a husband who can do this type of work for us and is willing to.

Here's a look at where we're at as of today.

coming 'round the corner to the patio. Oh - and that retaining wall? It had to be torn down and rebuilt, too!


From the bottom looking up


Note how big those landings are and how much dirt had to come out to keep them all spaced evenly...


from the top looking down...

Note the big piles of dirt everywhere...


on my patio...


at the back of the yard, by the creek...

Note that the drainage tubes from the gutters on the house also had to be dug deeper and lengthened due to this project, just adding another step...


The drainage tube used to come out about where the edge of the step is, since it had to be dug in deeper, we had to go out about another 10 feet!

I can't wait to see the finished project, because I know it will look great and work even better!