A few months ago I saw a brief interview with VP hopeful Tim Walz (may that dream rest in peace). The interviewer asked him what the most important part of the home was. “The gutters” he said, “because if those have leaks you’re going to have leaks in your home”
Well, I guess I’m replacing that gutter now! I thought Tim Walz told me to! I got it taken care of and am so glad I did. It was time to retire the strategically placed bucket I’d put there to catch the escaping water to prevent it from freezing on the steps in winter. It was truly tacky.
The other issue is one I’ve had since I bought my home. I love the property around my home, but it is never, ever tidy. It’s impossible to make it so with it’s wild plantings and random piles of rock, it’s sections of retaining wall and patchy sun access.
At the back of my patio though, is a particularly annoying thing – just under my stockade fence that Carol hates so much, is basically a bunch of dirt with stone and rock jammed into it. Maple saplings grow from it sometimes, as does invasive vine. Harlow digs at it looking for creatures, and it makes my patio look crummy with it’s collecting of leaves and branches and acorns that cannot be removed no matter how much effort is put in.
So, I bit the bullet and got some quotes to have it all replaced with a low wall. It was a serious investment which gave me pause, but at the end of the day, I knew this was going to be a HUGE upgrade.
How it’s looked since 2011;
I went with Adam’s Quality Masonry. His team of two masons showed up at 7:30 and worked until just before 6PM two days in a row. Adam and I talked about the wall coming up only to just under the bottom of the fence. On the first day, I saw one of the masons using a string to do what appeared to be making a line to follow. Sort of an attempt to make the wall as level as possible. This wasn’t the plan we discussed and I got nervous.
I texted Adam and tried in the least meddling way possibly to ask him about this:
Then he sent me this which I thought was hilarious;
Initially my hope was to save the clematis, but as they got further along, it was clear that it was a stupid idea since the clematis may not survive the project anyway. So we ended up ripping it out and making the wall come straight across.
Click to open pics;
At the end of the second day, the guys had cemented a new step, cleaned the area and gone on their way, leaving some supplies and tools to be picked up the next day, as well as far-too-tempting wet concrete behind.
I texted Adam “On the chance that the guys may try to fix the pawprint my dog may or may not have intentionally left with my help in their concrete, let them know they should leave it. Thank you.” He approved of the “accident”.
It’s my favorite part of course.
BEAN'S BABBLETORIUM 