Dirt Flies

We are finally to the point of actually finishing projects! One of the downfalls of working on projects yourself is the slow laborious progress.

This week the final brick was placed. Ed gathered the children around and they shrieked and yelled loud enough to wake the neighborhood.


Ed used some of the leftover mortar to cover the cement blocks under the porch with a random pattern.


Then it was clean up time. The piles of brick, wood and various junk that has been in our yard for the past months was cleaned up. The children have had so much fun playing with all this "stuff". But I'm slightly relieved to have an end to all the mud, sand, and brick dust that has been tracked into our house. Not that my children will ever stay clean in the summer. But at least it won't be right at the door and they will have a few feet to shake off before entering the house.


On Friday, Ed's brother, Terry, helped with landscaping. The ground around the addition and particularly under one of the trees was packed down hard from all the heavy machinery that has been in the yard this spring. According to Terry, our tree expert, the tree was showing signs of stress and needed to get air to it's roots. They rented a big air compressor and used the high powered air to break up the dirt. The dust was amazing!


But the soil by one of the trees was like concrete and no dent was able to be made. We put the soaker hose on it all night. By morning, they were able to break up the hard soil. They then worked in mushroom mulch. By the time they finished, the soil was light and fluffy. I had decided to only have some small planting beds because of the tree root competition, but I was tempted to plant in the whole area after their work. Seemed a shame to cover it with bark. But it was all in an effort to save the tree.


They coiled two soaker hoses in the tree's drip line and covered it with a good layer of playground chips.


The finished result.


Such a relief to have this part of the project finished!