Saturday, May 30, 2009

instant yard

We have confused the poor robins who have frequented our back yard this spring. They have thoroughly enjoyed all the worms and bugs they could feast on in our dirt, now they have to look a little harder in our grass. Sorry robins, but Hooray for us!!! I am so thrilled to have grass in our backyard!!

It has been a long road and a ton of work, mostly for Wayne, but it is so worth it to see that lovely green carpet in the backyard. Even staying up most of the night waiting for the delivery was worth it. The sod company had one truck break down which put them way behind in their schedule. Then another truck blew a tire which pushed them further behind. Long story short, our sod was delivered at 4 am this morning. But like I said, having grass to enjoy all summer made all the work and lack of sleep worth it. It is going to be awesome this summer!!

This is about the 1/2 way point. We started laying the sod at about 6:15 am with the help of our home teacher. Other friends and family joined us as the morning progressed. My dad is raking out the dirt just a bit more to even out the bumps. My dad also brought us 3 trees and 2 bushes to plant as well, he's so great!!

Because of the hill on the side of the house, we decided that a 4-wheeler with a trailer would be the best option for transporting the sod from the driveway to the back. A few men did use wheel barrows, and I laughed every time I saw them running down the hill with a full load of grass. Impressively though, none of them ever lost their load.

These are our uninvited guests. They came with the grass. Only a thousand or so, mostly babies about 1/4" long. I told Wayne that it is too bad that Lizzie isn't around anymore. We would have had food for months with these little guys.
Bradley and his friend Braydon had the job of catching as many as they could and they will take them to the pond later to feed the fish. I asked Bradley at one point how many he had in his jar, "oh, 200 I think" was his reply. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he was right. There really were hundreds of them hopping all over our front yard.


This is the last stretch on the hill. Wayne was finishing this up on his own because we weren't quite ready this morning to do this spot. He still had lots to rake up, holes to fill in, and bumps to level off. We ordered almost exactly enough sod. We ordered 5500 square feet of sod, and were only short at the top of the hill by about 5 feet deep and 15' wide, which isn't too bad. And since it is at the top of the hill, we will just prepare that spot for seed this fall.

It's a bit of a patchwork quilt right now, but in a few weeks it's going to be a lovely soft green carpet. We have flower beds and stone paths to finish, but the most important part of the backyard is now complete. Thanks Wayne, and everyone else who came to help us this morning.

Elli is really going to love the yard, or is it me who is going to love being able to have another place to escape with her?
(She is riding her new Clifford bike that her therapist brought over on Thursday. It is to help her start using her legs more, and she caught on immediately. She only goes for short rides, but she does it herself. I think down on the patio she will go even farther.)

6 comments:

Deanne said...

The grass looks amazing! Your backyard is going to be wedding reception-worthy!

Marianne said...

Your yard looks so nice! I'm sure Noah would love helping Bradley catch some of those critters for you. Maybe we'll have to come down soon. That little bike is so cute too. What a fun way to get her to use her legs.

Kim said...

It looks great! I'm sorry we couldn't help. I'm sure you are so excited. Congrats!

Megan B ♥ said...

Oh, WOW, it looks SO BEAUTIFUL!! Congrats!

Unknown said...

It looks great - hooray!

Cindy B said...

Your yard looks great! I'm sure you'll really enjoy that this summer.