BB2 on hold

I wont be able to complete the BB2 for a couple of weeks now as I have to go to Melbourne to do some work.

Will be back in mid June

Day 5

went and spent a couple of hours at my other BB today doing some "odd" jobs.

Put up a wire for the climbing plants:



and at the back - built the frame, put up the fence and painted it :



All I need to do now is finish all of the cutting for the paving and then build a little retaining wall around the plants out the back.

my other b'yard blitz - day 4

went to my other BB again today. The weather was a bit off - pouring with rain. But as they say you only get wet once so i did and i carried on.








I hired a brick trolley and i moved all of the bricks off the drive (9 slices, then I finished of levelling the area along the back and laid most of the bricks, except those which need cutting.

There will be some bricks left over by the look of it even when all of the cuts have been made. Not sure what will happen to them but they can always be saved for a rainy day i guess.

I think it will look quite good when it is finished, but at the moment it looks like a bit of a construction site

construction work now underway

spent another day at my other backyard blitz - my back is now officially killing me.

Managed to get a bit done

- laid the path down the side (except for a couple of bricks which need to be cut
- built the retaining walls and "paved" in front of the shed and planted some climbing plants which will "hide" the shed
- laid some bricks right down the back; and
- flattened the sand on the back fence area ready to pave tomorrow or some other day
- prepped some timber I intend to use to build a little fence at the back and to secure the wire for the climbing plants

a little more work completed

went to the hardware store this morning with Sue (on mothers day - doesnt everyone do that) and bought some herbs for our garden and some hardware (paint) and plants for mum and dads garden.

later in the day Ash and I went to the house and i completed a couple of little prep jobs - finished painting the shed (it looks brand new) and prep'd some other timber i need to use.

Tomorrow I intend to build the walls and finish the preparation for the paving. On Tuesday i intend to get as much of the paving done as i can. If i need to i will skip french on Wednesday to "finish" the job. Might need to come back another day and do the final cuts.

Only thing then left to do will be to remove some stuff Nicky and Emilio have had stored around the back for a while.

my other backyard blitz - day 2

spent another day at Mum's digging and getting all the rubbish out of the way and preparing to build the retaining walls. I also painted (or almost) the shed - it makes it "disappear" compared to its original state (galvanised). When it has some plants in front of it you will hardly be able to see it.

fairy lights

the electrician came today and installed the lights. they make the garden look fantastic. Paul (the Electrician) - thank you.

my initial request was for some "sockets" i could put some Xmas fairy lights into to drape on the plants along the wall (Sue wanted this), but following a site meeting several weeks ago i accepted advice to put some additional lights in. they werent exactly inexpensive, but i am sure you will agree this has been money well spent.

now we have a beautiful night garden.

My other backyard blitz

When my dad had a stroke recently Mum asked me to do some "paving" at her house to ensure she didnt have to deal with the weeds/garden etc.

she has gone off to Singapore (yesterday for one week) to visit some old friends. She needs the break. Before she left she ordered the paving bricks and left me with the strong impression that she hoped the job would be finished when she got back (seeing as i dont have anything else to do).

the bricks



I went there today and started the job. As usual i did not quite get all of the logistics sorted - i didnt order a miniskip bin - so i will have some double handling (more than I thought but manageable). While it looked like it might be a relatively small, straightforward job nothing is every really that easy. I cant believe how much rubbish there was hidden away in the corner (photos later). When i started moving everything the place was like cockroach/spider heaven - they were everywhere.

I arrived at 9.30 and left at 3.30 and i did not stop at all. I have made a pretty big dent in the "demolition - removing plants and rubbish" but there is still a fair bit of soil to remove and a bit of construction (repairs to retaining walls etc) to complete.

I took some before and after photos, just for the record. Lets see if we can get this job done by Wednesday next week (it will be a stretch).

The before shots:

I have to fill in the gap down the side path, pave in front of the Shed, pave all the garden bed down the back fence (except where i have left the 2 trees). To do this i need to repair/replace some of the retaining blocks and "adjust" the reticulation.









the after shots:











following is an example of some of the "rubbish" saved just in case it was needed later. It was part of the stuff in the bottom of the "ice chest" - now completely empty - on the wall in the after photo. there were literally hundreds of the little limestone offcuts - god knows what for.



Just before i left the bin turned up (good service). An added bonus - a larger bin because they did not have the size i ordered. GOOD JOB with all this rubbish. The first job tomorrow will be to put all the rubbish laying around it, into it.

final steps - happen but slowly

Update - 8/5/08 - the electrician came and it looks like the lights are finished. Havent turned them on yet - waiting for it to get dark.

____________________________________________

although the garden has now been finished for quite a few weeks there are a couple of things which still need to be finalised. We wanted some electrical work done so that there would be "light" in the garden. the electrician is supposed to come tomorrow to do this work.

Also there has been a crack in the "concrete" since it was laid and this was supposed to have been fixed. As yet there is no firm date for this to happen.

Finally there is a small amount of additional planting to be completed on the front verge. Again there is no firm timetable for this but i have been assured it will occur.

As with all projects my experience is that final steps happen but slowly - unfortunately.