Our Start to the Summer

So what have we done so far this summer? We spent most of June on vacation (pictures and information still to come). But let me start by showing what we accomplished before we even headed out of town.

Now to most, this may look like an ordinary house and yard in the suburbs but what WE see is a huge accomplishment. What we managed to do was:

*install a completely new sprinkling system

*re-install the fence around the property

*plant new grass in the many spots that died last year with our sprinkling system "malfunction"

*tear out grass around nearly the entire perimeter of the property

*try to reconfigure the remaining cement border around property line

*install flagstone/rock pathway (2 tons of flagstone and 5 tons of rock) where we removed grass

*purchase/haul more rocks, plants and bark

*re-do the flower beds and transplant several plants

*build and stain the Adirondack chairs and table and finally hang the hammock we bought in Mexico last year

We then headed out of town for a few weeks. Now that we have returned, we plan on enjoying the fruits of our labor. We think it looks pretty good (for amateurs, anyway). At least it is a huge improvement from this time last year :-)

We are still fighting off the gopher attack and will probably have to all summer. Already 5 plants have succumbed to the nasty critters but hopefully we can keep them at bay.