{"id":6010,"date":"2010-03-06T22:33:27","date_gmt":"2010-03-07T05:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/?p=6010"},"modified":"2010-03-06T23:10:47","modified_gmt":"2010-03-07T06:10:47","slug":"yard-progress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/2010\/03\/06\/yard-progress\/","title":{"rendered":"Yard Progress"},"content":{"rendered":"

After necessary breaks for crazy work schedules, celebrations, and weather, we’re back on the home renovation wagon.\u00c2\u00a0 (Literally.\u00c2\u00a0 Stick with me a few and you’ll see what I mean.)<\/p>\n

If you’re new here, here’s the jist: we bought a 100+ year old shotgun double almost 6 years ago.\u00c2\u00a0 When we moved it, it had no kitchen and no fully functional bathroom.\u00c2\u00a0 We’ve been renovating it ourselves (think optimistic D-I-Y) non-stop since then.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a slow process.<\/p>\n

With the onset of glorious 60 degree days, we’ve started to dig out the backyard.<\/p>\n

Drainage is an ongoing issue here.\u00c2\u00a0 Paul dug out the mess the idiot builder of the pillar to ugly created along one side of the house and it works beautifully.\u00c2\u00a0 Paul’s now proven method?\u00c2\u00a0 Bring the house back to original grade.\u00c2\u00a0 This is where the sides of the house were when we bought it almost 6 years ago and finally, the sides are back.<\/p>\n

The backyard has been another story.<\/p>\n

A good foot or more of soil gathered over the backyard and it’s not draining well in rain.\u00c2\u00a0 Specifically, it wants to go into our foundation.\u00c2\u00a0 Our plan is to bring it back to grade (and to the same level as the shotgun double next door) as it was originally built.\u00c2\u00a0 We found treasure troves of bricks in our various projects, so the plan is to dig out the yard, lay down a gravel bed, and properly install the bricks in a patio — with raised planting areas around it.<\/p>\n

The first step is to remove a lot of dirt.<\/p>\n

Will has been helping, treasure hunting along the way.\u00c2\u00a0 What you can see below represents much of his collection.\u00c2\u00a0 Among the loot is a comb, a ninja bone, a square termite house, and various pieces of metal.\u00c2\u00a0 (He’s also found glass marbles, but they were washed and brought inside.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

See how much soil we’re trying to remove?\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the back of our house.\u00c2\u00a0 One day we’ll be able to climb outside without twisting an ankle.<\/p>\n

It’s about a foot deep.\u00c2\u00a0 Over the entire back yard.<\/p>\n

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Every crumble has to be carried out of the back.\u00c2\u00a0 Paul has been coordinating folks interested in the free dirt — people with trucks and trailers come and pick up from the beds out front or let Paul fill up their trailers.<\/p>\n

See what he’s pulling?<\/p>\n

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This is the helper.\u00c2\u00a0 Back on the wagon.\u00c2\u00a0 (A moan-worthy joke, I agree.)<\/p>\n

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Will shows me one of his newest treasure finds.<\/p>\n

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Treasures are collected near Will’s special stool.\u00c2\u00a0 Paul built this with scrap wood while he was framing the back of the house — he needed a place where Will would periodically stay put.\u00c2\u00a0 Will provided some decor.<\/p>\n

I haven’t a clue what the drawing is representing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here’s the little man, hard at work.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And here’s a beefcake<\/a> shot.\u00c2\u00a0 We’ve all missed them<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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And here’s a Patootie shot.\u00c2\u00a0 Look who’s up from her nap!<\/p>\n

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Once dug up, the dirt is wheeled to the front.\u00c2\u00a0 Paul tells me this is the hardest part.<\/p>\n

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Will earns his ride in the wagon.<\/p>\n

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Meanwhile, Kate plays with Will’s treasures.\u00c2\u00a0 In this case, the glass marbles Will found.\u00c2\u00a0 They were a good foot down, so who knows how old they could be?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After necessary breaks for crazy work schedules, celebrations, and weather, we’re back on the home renovation wagon.\u00c2\u00a0 (Literally.\u00c2\u00a0 Stick with me a few and you’ll see what I mean.) If you’re new here, here’s the jist: we bought a 100+ year old shotgun double almost 6 years ago.\u00c2\u00a0 When we moved it, it had no […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[119],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6010"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6010"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6012,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6010\/revisions\/6012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}