APRIL-MAY 2005
BEFORE (8-03) & AFTER (3-05) – click images to enlarge
After we got the building permit closed out, we took a break. Didn't do much in April at all,
so we decided to combine April and May. Mostly we focused on landscape and just relaxing.
Once the school is out and Don's work schedule gets easier, we'll be back to finishing the
last interior details and building the front patio privacy walls. And then, finally, maybe,
if everything works out just right... we party!
04.10.05 – After a week off, Diana spent a Sunday afternoon (with Quinn's help)
filling up the back patio planters on either side of the gate.
04.20.05 – Installers from Bob's Glass arrive to install the mosterously large master
bathroom mirror. It was sort of trippy watching a the reflections of the neighborhood
pass by as they moved.
Through the gate and in through the back door. It took a couple hours for them to
get the mirror to fit. It required quite a bit of gouging away drywall at the ceiling-
wall corner.
A mirror that big really makes the room feel huge, as if the bathroom weren't already
on the large side.
04.24.05 – We wake up to find our very expensive pair of pots have been stolen from
the front yard overnight. Bastards dumped the poor palm trees and took off! We
bought somecheap plastic pots to keep the trees in on the back patio until we
can find some good replacements that we can anchor into the ground.
05.07.05 – This weekend we will finally begin landscaping the front yard. Lack of
time and money have prevented us from installing a sprinkler system, but constant
weed management and the blight of a dirt yard demand progress. So we have bark
delivered to cover up most of the front. 16 cubic yards of black bark from Hastie's
Sand & Gravel are delivered in two trips and will the the help of King of the Hill
Quinn and Antonio and Matthew from down the street, we begin spreading it out.
The shade tree in front of the garage is beautiful and healthy, but unfortunately
does not fit into the landscape design we've worked up. If it were only 8 feet to the
east it could stay, but it's right in the middle of where we are planting a grove of
white birch trees. Don takes off the top in sections and starts on the trunk, but
Diana takes on the final cut.
There's never been a tree that Julian didn't want to climb. Even a doomed tree with
only one branch left is attractive! And, as Diana makes the last cut, Julian jumps on
board for the ride down.
05.14.05 – The second straight weekend of landscaping brings a rented fence post
auger to do the digging. Diana and Don spend the better part of a day drilling 25
14" wide and 20" deep tree holes and another 45 8" wide groundcover holes.
Oh, my Gawd! We were so tired and Diana's left leg was bruised up and down from
the auger handle hitting it.
Wow! Do we have some big-ass gophers in these here parts! Every landscape
professional would tell us how stupid it is to dig the holes AFTER spreading out
the bark. We know it wasn't the best way to go, but anyone who's been following
this web site knows by now that we don't always do things in the right order.
Now all we got to do fill all those holes with 70 plants.
05.15.05 – Here are the two birch tree groves on either side of the front yard.
They'll not only look beautiful in a year or two, but they'll provide some privacy to
the front rooms and outdoor patios.
05.21.05 – And for the third weekend in a row... more planting. The last 6 trees are
planted in the back yard between the patio and trampoline. Also, a close-up of the
ground cover in front. It's "Point Reyes" manzanita. It grows no more than 12 inches
high but spreads out about 8 feet.
We also have purchased our first ever patio set. We've already had 2 or 3 BBQ
dinners out here... it's lovely! Because the back faces east, the house provides
plenty of late afternoon shade.Check back for more...
Also visit Don's portfolio site: www.designbutton.com
