Steady Moving

Hello again!  We got off to a bit of a creeping start on the lawn project due to a super rainy spell here in Boulder.  We were very patient of course...and we are now making steady progress.  Last week they hauled out 4 giant loads of yard "stuff".  This place was seriously neglected.  Here are some pictures from the first few days of work:

This was on day 2: Ellie went to the window and said "WOW" - hot air balloon taking off.

Then the workers showed up with their big truck...that is one load of debris.

Progress!  Lots of brush cut out and some weed barrier down. On the deck looking southeast.

On the deck looking east

On the deck looking south

Freshly laid front walk

Still looking a little rough but we have our clean slate.

Pile of mulch that they took up from all of our beds we did last year - reusing it!

So week 1 was a lot of cleaning up.  This would have taken us 2 summers to do - we are so thankful that we are able to have these guys here helping us out.  Okay so we are paying them to be here but we are thankful that they do landscaping for a living.

We are now in week 2.  Steve (the owner) had to come by and spray our tenacious weeds for a third time over the weekend.  We want to make sure they are good and dead before we go tilling up the soil and spreading our nice new grass seed all over the place.  Weeds have no place in the yard I have in my mind (fingers crossed that Ellie is a good weed puller).

It rained here yesterday so they held off on working but came in full force today.  As we were leaving the bobcat was driving off the truck into our yard.  Man we were excited, I almost called in sick so that I could watch.  Ellie too.  I thought B was going to climb into the bobcat as it was driving by.  We persevered though and I rode my bike as fast as my legs would carry me home to check out the progress and I was NOT disappointed!  I'll cut straight to the pictures:

Old patio with trees removed, rock laid in side yard for future raised garden beds!

One of the relocated trees and Dozer trying to find a spot to pee.

Stone edging and churned up yard.  It was dusky so tough for pictures.

Looking due south, relocated Ash tree on the right.

Looking east - all the lilacs are still there and they relocated a tree right off the corner of the deck (purple leaves so its dark)

Oh so that's how you move so quickly...we need one.

Relocated tree #2 - will provide more privacy with the bathroom window and Ellie's room

Looking due west towards the future garden

I am sure you can tell that we are really excited.  Nothing much has been done out front as they are driving all over the place with the bobcat. The Bronco still resides alongside the house but that area will eventually receive a makeover as well - all rock.  In case you haven't noticed, rock is really popular out here.  It requires no water, doesn't blow away in our crazy wind storms, and is durable.  We realize that we have a lot of weed monitoring and leaf blowing/raking to do to keep them looking sharp, but we aren't afraid of a little elbow grease.

So that is where we stand as of today.  We just did a little walk-about in the almost dark, admiring the progress up close.  We even got some compliments by folks walking by on the sidewalk!  As our neighbor so tactfully put it: "This place has been an eyesore for a long time now" - no beating around the bush with them. I guess we are not the only ones who are going to be excited to see this property transformed.  We will keep you posted on the progress!