Work Pants, Dirt, Shovel, and Biceps

In honor of getting our concrete curbing poured yesterday morning, I thought that I should do a quick post on some backyard updates.

That we did five weeks ago. Because that’s how fast I am sometimes.

It’s kind of fun to see these pictures, actually. I was outside all day yesterday, admiring our new concrete curbing around these two fences. And when I come in to edit these pictures…well, they just look terrible!

Hey, we knew that it would take a few years to get this yard the way that we wanted.

But now the fun part starts…picking out plants that will soon die that will thrive with our Hubby-installed drip system!

Speaking of Hubby…have I mentioned lately how lucky I am to have such a hard-working man? He is willing to do lots of labor, even if it takes a little longer.

And he’s buff.

We’ve learned from experience that these clumps of dirt need to be broken up as they come out and are still fresh.

If left to dry in the awful Arizona sun, these clumps will make life purely miserable later on.

Clumps don’t fill holes very well. Or break apart easily to fill holes.

This is where Hubby plans to dig for two sprinkler lines…one for the sprinkler heads for the (future) grass, and the other for the drip systems for these (future) planter boxes and garden boxes by the pool.

I think that our plants will have a fighting chance now that they will be watered regularly…and without our forgetfulness getting in the way!

This is our pure clump-removal process. It means chopping up the clumps as they first come out.

Chop chop chop chop.

He’s not even flexing here. He’s just that muscular.

Can you believe that he slaves away at a desk all day?

How do you know that he is truly working? Because of these pants, of course.

They are his official work pants. He does most of our house projects while wearing these plaid beauties.

The trench is dug. Soon, a sprinkler pipe will be in on this side as well. It will feed two sprinkler heads, while the other side of the yard has sprinkler lines and drip system lines.

Diggity dig, Hubby!

I feel so badly just taking pictures instead of helping.

But I remember that on this particular afternoon, I had a meeting later and had already showered.

Terrible timing on my part, I know!

And I promise that it was an accident!

You feel really guilty when the backyard starts to look like this…and you didn’t do anything to help getting it that way.

Wow, buff and patient with his wife?

Is this the World’s Best Husband or what?!

We have found so many “treasures” while working in this yard. Hubby now keeps a trash bucket nearby to throw in what he finds.

We’ve even stumbled upon drug paraphernalia. Weird!

But mostly just rusted nails, toy cars, and trash.

You know, stuff that we wouldn’t want in a brand-new, shiny backyard paradise!

These aren’t little sissy trenches, either.

Hubby does not mess around when it comes to digging properly for sprinkler systems.

Pipes go in here. And then we can fill it in, level the yard, and schedule some concrete!

(Apparently, pipes, filling things in, leveling, and concrete takes five weeks from start to finish).

We are making good progress. I’m learning patience every step of the way!

I can’t wait until we get this place finished! I know that it will be a space in which I will spend lots of time…when it looks nice and no longer like a gravel pit!

Do you remember what this all looked like when we first moved in?

I do. shudder

We’ve already made a teensy weensy bit of progress!

What have you been working on, now that Spring has arrived?

So Married a Pick Ax Hunk

That’s right. We’re still working on yards around this place. But at least now we’ve moved to the backyard to start some demolition.

Once again, the term “we” is used rather loosely here. It’s open for interpretation, really, as to how much I really help when it comes to swinging large, heavy, inanimate objects.

Hubby started this months ago, when our weather was finally cool enough to commence some digging. Unlike the rest of the country, we have to wait for winter to begin our outdoor projects.

Really, 119 degrees is just silly talk.

“We” only did a day of work back here before I suggested that we knock out the front yard first, since people actually see that part of our world.

And step one cut a hole in the box of all this fun was to dig up the old sprinkler system in the backyard. Just like he did out front, Hubby is going to reinstall the sprinklers so that they actually work.

In the case of the backyard, which had gravel in half of it when we first moved in, he also needed to add some sprinklers so that our soon-to-be-grass backyard would have adequate water everywhere.

Adequate water is a very important thing here in the desert, apparently. Who knew?

Ha! I got this out of the picture archives to show what it looked like back in the day! We’ve come a long way from this…and have a long way to go still!

So dig up old sprinkler systems “we” did. As you can see, just like in the front yard, these guys kinda went crazy with how they laid the pipes for water. They put lines right down the middle of the lawn. Hubby’s new plan is to run all of the lines around the walls and near the patio, and keep the middle of the yard for…wait for it…grass.

I’m on board. He’s a genius, and he gets to make important executive decisions like these around our house.

So we are coming on a whole year of these sprinklers being turned off. We knew that we were going to tear this whole place up, so we didn’t even bother watering it for the past several months.

So it was a little alarming surprising when he found water still inside the old pipes. I guess it’s pretty hard to evaporate when buried in the ground, huh?

Once the old pipes are out of the ground, “we” will use Hubby’s Dad’s rotor tiller to dig up the entire backyard. This will help mix in our awful clay dirt with some compost that has been lovingly in place since our garden died.

That was quite some time ago, if you’re keeping track. I wish that you wouldn’t keep track, by the way. We might actually get something to grow this year after “we” add a reliable water source!

And, because he is the World’s Most Patient Man, he took the time to explain things and answer my questions as he worked.

You know he’s working, because these are his work pants. Remember?

Not that anyone would ever doubt it, but I married a hard worker. I’m so glad that he’s willing to swing a pick ax to make our yard pretty. It is always difficult to dig into this hard dirt.

Even after a long weekend of rain, which is when he rushed outside to do all of this, the ground was still super hard. He wanted to till the ground while it was still yet, but apparently even water doesn’t help soften things a bit.

I wish I could say that his shadow helped today, but I think he just mostly sat around and watched while Hubby worked his heart out.

Shadow wasn’t the only one watching today, though.

My way of helping today is to provide water for a short break. I’m just glad that he’s wearing the t-shirt that I got him while I was in St. Thomas this past May. I love it.

It’s a shark holding a sign that says, “Bite Me.” He’s worried that it will offend people, so he usually only puts it on at home. It cracks me up, but maybe I got the wrong joke?

Back to work, you.

As you can see, it’s messy business digging up a backyard. In case you’re wondering what crazy schemes we have going for this space, I’ll let you in on all that fun. After the sprinklers are pulled out and the yard is tilled, we will lay new sprinklers. Then we will hire some concrete edging peeps to give us some neat planter boxes near the two brick walls (and the planter boxes out front, while they’re at it, since we don’t meet any minimum order with that thirty feet ready to get concrete right now). They will also cage in the dirt and gravel from the other side yard so that things don’t mix into the beautiful grass.

Speaking of grass, we will sod the remaining yard with gorgeous green stuff in May, once we have everything prepped and ready. And then, water-permitting, we will have an awesome yard to enjoy all summer long…from the air-conditioned house.

And now, every winter from now on, we will plant winter grass in that area and enjoy an actual backyard for several months in our cooler times of the year.

I can hardly wait. For all of it.

I didn’t know that capturing some shots of Hubby digging could be so cool. I love how the focus is on the wall instead of him. And so many sunbursts today! Fun fun.

Just like out front, Hubby is finding all sorts of crummy pipes back here.

They tell us that the previous tenant was a landscape architect.

I just don’t believe it. Not with how crazy fixing these yards has been!

These are the two block walls that will get nice, clean concrete edging around them. Hubby has already prepped to put a drip system inside the planter boxes as well as sprinkler heads for the grass. Those river rock boulders will all be gone.

If you need river rock, please let me know! Free to a good home!

With the crazy pipes out of the ground, it was time to get to the real fun. Hubby thinks this is fun, by the way.

And that’s OK, as long as he doesn’t mind that I think that this is OK!

Rotor tilling was hard work. It shakes and shimmies and is exhausting to hold back from taking over the entire neighborhood.

And, unfortunately, tilling wasn’t very successful today. The blades just skipped along the hard (albeit wet) dirt and barely made a dent. Hubby was hoping to make several inches of soft layer to get it ready for sod to grow.

I think this was frustrating for him. His Dad was down just a few days ago and must have had a serious talk with the rotor tiller. Because in just a few short hours days, Hubby’s Dad finished tilling our entire backyard!

We are lucky to have a Rotor Tiller Whisperer in the family. And grateful that he is willing to work, also. Thanks for saving your son’s back, Mick!

And, uh, sorry about yours hurting instead…

We can’t say that Hubby didn’t try. I guess you just have to know your machine personally.

So he finished this evening using an old-fashioned method of manual labor once again…a shovel. I think that this shovel has become his best friend this winter with all the digging it has done in our front and now back yards!

We will be putting concrete edging in place of these pavers here, and a little further up to keep future garden dirt from messing up the lawn. Won’t this look great?!

It will be wonderful to have a place to enjoy for years to come. And I’m glad that I married a strong, hard-working man who wants to make this place our home just as much as I do.

The Walls (Finally) Get Pretty

After yesterday’s post, which was chock-full of prepping and priming, we were ready to get some paint on this house. It just so happens that one of our helpers these past few weeks professionally painted house exteriors to put himself through college.

Are we lucky or what?!

Dave brought his airless spray painter. And now I want one. But he made it look so easy to use, and I’m sure that isn’t the case. Here he is prepping the sprayer for its work duties for the day.

The house is covered and primed and ready to soak up a first coat of paint. Today, we will get through two coats of paint on the walls. We will return next week to paint the trims and upper moldings a dark coordinating color.

It will be gargeous!

This was the side wall, ready for some primer after Tom scraped the living daylights out of it. While Dave sprayed the rest of the house, this side wall got some primer. It’s nice to only need an hour of drying before it can be coated in paint!

By the time he finished spraying the rest of the house, this wall was ready for the spray gun.

Tom was busy on another side of the house, priming some bare wooden trim. This won’t be painted today, but it’s nice to protect it from the elements so that it will be ready to go when we return next Saturday.

In case you didn’t know, it is beyond fascinating to watch a professional painter work his magic. I was so excited for the walls to go from partially-covered-in-ancient-paint to incredibly awesome…all in a matter of seconds.

And Dave was very good at what he does.

So, honestly, I think that we were all bummed that it simply wasn’t in the present budget to paint the brick on the lower portion of the house. But I can’t tell you enough how wonderful it looks next to the new wall color!

It’s almost like new life was breathed into the old brick by painting just above them. Other than a few character stains from almost-fifty years of the elements wreaking havoc on them, the brick also looks like it has been given another chance at life.

Since a lot of the prep work was done, there wasn’t much to do now but to admire Dave’s handiwork. A few of us helped him with the hoses, drop cloths, and sprayer so he could keep moving without keeping track of all of those things.

Peyton climbed the roof and painted the chimney the same beautiful color that was going on the walls. No surface was left out when it came to our loving today.

Also in this shot, you can see the paint color versus the white primer on the walls. To the right has been sprayed and looks awesome. On the lower chimney, it still needs a shot of paint. Isn’t the difference incredible?!

Marshall got up on the roof as well to prime this wooden trim. Since this gets lots of direct sunlight each afternoon, it was critical to get it primed and painted in order to protect the wood from warping.

Our harsh desert sun can do lots of damage in a very short amount of time.

The sidewall has been primed, but I love this picture of the newly-painted walls! Doesn’t it look wonderful? And it matched so well with the brick. Actually, when they picked out paint colors, this looks a little more gray in the samples. It is a very warm gray on the walls.

We were surprised when it was first being sprayed, but in a good way.

Since the upper trim won’t be painted today, Hubby kept busy by filling in cracks in the forty-eight year-old wooden beams with caulk. This will look seamless after it gets covered in paint next weekend.

Meanwhile, Dave kept spraying like there was no tomorrow. I would love to build a door for their water heater to be covered again. But just a coat of paint made its shelter look a lot better already.

Holy smokes. This looks amazing! It was very satisfying to see the paint going on at last. We have been working on this house for five weeks now, and it’s always nice to see a glimpse of what the final product will look like.

All of this trim under the back patio used to be blue paint. Everyone voted to paint it with the lighter color rather than the dark. The light gray really adds lots of warmth and height to the patio instead of making it feel more closed in. I really love the impact.

   

Dave was like an energizer bunny today, as long as we kept him hydrated. So demanding! But covering the entire house in its first coat took less than an hour. Wow!

And even cable boxes and wires can look better with a fresh coat of paint.

  

After a long, exhausting day, the two coats of paint were finished. We had been here since about 8:30 this morning and finally left around 5:30 this evening. A long day, but what a difference in the house!

You can still see glimpses of the blue that used to be on the walls underneath the covered porch. Those will all turn into a beautiful dark gray next week. But I love seeing it next to the new walls, which were oh so recently the same color.

Doesn’t this look better?! I love it. I absolutely love it.

Already the house looks new and fresh. I also love taking away all of the paper and tape to reveal an almost-done finished product. Sorry that I’m always so impatient!

Have I mentioned that they are letting me paint the door red?! And I have already sprayed all of the fixtures (light, doorbell, mailbox, house numbers) in a beautiful satin nickel finish to match the door handle. It will all look amazing once the trim is done and I can put them up again!

This is the carport showing their garage entrance to the house. How clean and nice does this look? The door trim with get a nice, dark color on it. And, maybe eventually, the door can get a new coat of paint as well.

Here is the sidewall with two coats of paint. Doesn’t it look better than scraped giant brick? I really love the warm color on the walls.

All of this upper trim will be a new dark gray next Saturday. And the homeowner wanted to paint the window trims that dark color as well but says he can do it. All of those accents will really pop when we are finished in about a week.

Here is the west-facing side of the house, which has taken quite a beating from the setting sun all those years. It now looks brand-new.

Here is the back patio with two coats of paint. And you can see that the new trim above has been primed and is ready for trim color when we return next Saturday.

My goodness, this looks incredible. It was worth all of the hard work just to see it looking like this!

 

And even the back patio door got a facelift today. One less thing to worry about when we come to add the finishing touches to this home.

And here is the back wall of the master bedroom. Their home has a very similar floor plan to ours!

We had to trim out a bunch of old ivy before painting this section. It had taken over the world and was starting to climb up into the wooden trim and was splitting it away from the rest of the house.

I’m glad that it was stopped before the rest of the neighborhood started to notice missing children everywhere…

Done for the day, and I couldn’t be happier with the results. I’m so glad that we had so many professionals helping out. It really made this home look polished and new. Can’t wait to see what the dark trim does to finish the rest of our paint job next week!