The stump is gone, bring on the bids!

This week was such a satisfying experience. As part of his help with digging out for a new retaining wall along our south property line, Mark got a big, heavy, old stump loose and ready to go. It was too big to lift and I couldn't see how I would get it loaded to take to the dump.

So I fretted about it, and came up with one failed way after another. I really didn't want to ask Steve, Dave or Eric to join a difficult effort to lift it into the truck, so I kept thinking.

Then it struck me. The same cargo straps I have could be used to pull it into the wheelbarrow. I hooked one aroung the wheelbarrow handel, wrapped it around the stump, and then hooked the other end to the other handle. Then I tighted it up and pulled. And pulled, and the third time, with my full weight in the air, it finally pivoted up and will a delicate coaching to avoid falling to the side (well, actually it did fall over to the side twice, but on the third time...) it was there, sitting comfortably in the wheelbarrow.

Now, how to get it up into the truck. My last attempt at a ramp with a furniture dolly was a failure and I am glad there were no witnesses or cameras present. This time I noticed an old piece of weathered plywood in the back behind the shed and the light came on. I took it and reinforced it with three scrap 2x4's and I had a substantial ramp. Next I positioned the truck for the lift, but the ramp angle was too steep and I couldn't push the load up. So, I thought, I really don't need to get the wheelbarrow into the truck, just the stump. And if I get the lip of the wheelbarrow up over the tailgate of the truck, it might be high enough. So I set the ramp on some concrete blocks and tried again. The wheelbarrow rolled right up and the stump lifted out and into the truck. I could hardly believe it was done, and how easy it was.

Well, with that hurdle accomplished, I finished loading up the truck and happily went to the dump.

I then prepared a little plan for our project and have had several contractors over to review the work and prepare bids for us. With any luck, we will have a new driveway yet!

The wall is done!

Retaining wall with a curve at the end to leave room around the roses.

Friday and Saturday were a good workout, but the little retaining wall is done, so now we are ready to get bids for the new driveway. Yea! 

Then yesterday Emily, Dave and family came over for dessert and hot tub. We had fun with my I phone and a free app called CamWow.

The wise old Opa

J.J. enjoys the grass, he really does!

The real Joey

Too many tacos this week...

See what video games can do?

When mom is happy, the world is happy...

Getting along, and making progress .... well in the home projects at least.

The house is still quiet, and our cat, Piggy likes to stay close by. Right now she is laying on the desk next to my computer, purring and happy to have company. While Christine is still travelling and having a whale of a time it seems, I have made some progress on my current big project. It is one that I started last year when we were thinking it would be nice to have room on the side of the house for, well, maybe, a camper or something like that. Unfortunally, there was a lot of dirt in the way... So I began to dig it out and put it other places, like in front of the house were we now have berms were grass once grew. Well, it still thinks should grow in parts of the new berm area, but I keep telling it now. First with Round up, then with a hula hoe. Last week I howed up, or at least discouraged the latest grassy upstarts, applied Preen weed preventer and covered the whole thing with about 14 bags of cedar bark mulch. It looks nice don't you think?

Then it was back to work on my other project...

this is the post next to the water pipes. also next to the block wall which is scattered around

new gate installed

gate posts in place and wall put back together

 I had removed part of our fence and gate, which needed to be reinstalled in a new location. So this week I got to work.

done and stained!

Like most projects, there were complications. I started to dig a post hole for the gate post by the house, but ran into concrete that I had to chip out. Then, when I went to dig the hole for the post on the other side of the gate, well there were sprinkler lines right where I wanted to dig.

So that meant taking down part of the block retaining wall and working on a reroute of the sprinkler lines. That meant dealing with leaks, more mistakes, and more time. Oh, did I mention that the old sprinker pipe is a little bigger than the current version of a 1" pipe? That means that fittings are a little small, and they like to leak, well, only when you want to run the sprinklers anyway.

I thought about it and decided to try wrapping the fitting with white teflon plummer tape that is used regular threaded pipes. It worked! No leaks, well at least none that I could see before I covered it up with concrete from the new gate post that is right beside it.

With the sprinkler pipe connected, it was time to rebuild the block retaining wall, which happily, went together just like it should.

Now with that done, and the new gate and fence posts in place, it was time to rebuild the gate and then put up the fence. Funny thing about the gate. I measured carefully (the new gate is a few inches narrower than the old one because of the concrete on one side and the sprinkler lines on the other), and cut the wood and assembled the gate. It was a work of art and I was pleased right up to the time I took it out to fit it to the gate posts. I had failed to figure in the space taken up by the hinges and it was too wide. About that time I was happy that I had put it together with screws, because just like I had screwed it together, I could take it apart and shorten the cross pieces. The second time was a perfect fit, well, if you don't count that I still ended up using a planer to make it just a little narrower.

Then it was the fence, and then the redwood stain. By mid afternoon, it was up and done and thank goodness for that.

Next week it will be more of digging and extending the new retaining wall. But the good news about that is that when I get it done we will be ready to get bids for the concrete work and have the new and wider driveway.

Summer has come, but where is the family?

For the first time this year, it was over 80 outside. The garden plants are looking better, and if it keeps up, I may have to see if the AC survived the winter. Of course, just in time (for next fall), I got the whole house humidifier installed yesterday. It was just cool enough last night to check it out - and, yeah, it worked! and the project only involved one trip to Home Depot for more parts. What a breakthrough.

Here it is in all its spendor.  Well, considering that I don't normally make holes in the ductwork and and such, and it works!

Still, the house is quiet these days, and our Sunday dinner had to move to Emily's. Mark is in Texas for training for several more weeks. Stephen IV is in Joplin MO and Kansas City for catastrophe work as part of the Farmers Insurance team (we are so proud of both of them). Christine, Marsey, Madaline and Cameron are on a road trip. This week they are staying with her sister Pam, Tom and her mom Elizabeth at their home in Ozark, MO (70 mi east of Joplin). Then they will drive to TN to visit Carrie for a few days, and then, who knows when?, they will find their way back to Utah.