Garden remodeling project.

Has it really been over a week since my last post?  Where has the time gone?  Since we got home from our camping trip we've been busy working on orders and trying to get the yard back in order.  A lot of orders came in while we were away last week.  Working hard at getting caught up with those and new orders keep coming in.  Thank you!  ;D

My Mother's Day bouquet.

Shilah, Michael, Angelina and Aiden stopped by Sunday to say Happy Mother's Day to me.  They brought 2 pounds of candy and the lovely flowers for our garden.  I'm ashamed to admit this, Mike and I (very easily) ate one pound of the candy while watching t.v. on Sunday night.  Can you believe it?  A whole pound, gone just like that!  For safe keeping, I put the other pound in the freezer and told Mike that he is not to open it.
 
Here's the yard;

The patio is so big now that the planter box is out, much more space.  Mike is going to make some patio furniture and a storage coffee table for the conversation area in the far corner in the above picture.  We're also going to buy one of those retractable awnings for the patio.
And you see the little window in the upper left corner?  Michael is also going to make some cute little shutters for that to dress it up.

The new (old bricks) brick walkway.

 I'm working on changing the house trim color from light blue to black. 

My little work area (paint, caulking, etc..) on the back porch.  All bricked in now.  I love!

I painted an accent color of sea glass green on the woodwork.

One of my hydrangea pots in full bloom.

The prettiest.

Along the way.

Road construction, narrow one lane road.

New Bridge.

A cute little skunk walked right by our truck as Michael filled out the paperwork at Laguna Seca the morning we checked out yesterday.  I was a little nervous about making any noise or sudden movements for fear of getting our truck sprayed.  Then we headed south on highway one from Laguna Seca Raceway Campground to Pismo Beach.  The drive was gorgeous to say the least.  We saw so much and pulling a fifth wheel doesn't allow you to stop or turn around for pictures. 

The hillsides were teaming with lush vegetation and wild flowers.  One of those rare days on the Pacific coast, the ocean was calm and fairly smooth with vivid colors ranging from aqua to viridian to inky black.  Low rolling bumps along the surface.  Small white caps dotting the sea.  Forests of redwood trees and the further south we got turned to tall groves of eucalyptus trees.  Somewhere before Big Sur, a filming crew was out and about.

We passed the Big Sur Lightstation and Piedras Blancas.  Homes tucked into the surrounding hillsides on the cliffs overlooking the ocean had remarkable views.

Stopped to see the hundreds of elephant seals.

Tired, etc..

For the past two weeks, I've had insomnia, very little sleep at night.  My mind races.  I'm too hot and have to turn on the ceiling fan.  I'm still hot and have to get the oscillating fan on a stand.  I get thirsty and have to get up for a glass of water.  I toss and turn.  And I itch.

I have a weird thing going on.  It first began around 2008 when we were in New Orleans visiting Mike's son, Tom.  It was a couple years since Hurricane Katrina had hit.  Shortly after Tom and his girlfriend (now wife) were able to go back home, they started feeding the dogs that were homeless and lost.  They would drive around with bags and bags of dog food feeding the poor creatures with nowhere to go.  They ended up adopting Jack.  Jack is a very large dog.  Very large.  A St. Bernard.

Anyway, back to my story.  We were there visiting around April.  We always go in April.  Number one, because it's Tom's birthday that month.  Number two the weather is good that time of year.  Number three, it's after Mardi Gras.  This particular April it was humid and muggy.  And hot.  Jack is a long haired dog and gets on the sofa, etc..

A few days into our visit at Tom's place, I noticed something red on my chest.  It looked like ringworm and itched like crazy.  It got bigger and started changing shape.  When we arrived back home I scheduled an appt. with my doctor, who thought it was ringworm, but just in case, sent me to a dermatologist.  The dermatologist took one look at it and gave me the name for it (it's a long name) and said it was an allergic reaction to something.  I had no idea from what.  All that mattered to me, was that the medicine prescribed made it disappear.  I thought it was a one time freak thing.

Then one day, later that same year, I drove up to Vacaville for my hair appointment.  It was a hot day and there was this guy washing his dog on the lawn in front of his house where I had parked my car.  I went over and petted the dog and spoke briefly to the man and went on my merry way.  That day I broke out again on my chest.  Same thing, same general area but a different spot.  Luckily, I still had the medicine so used that to clear it up.  And thought, hmm.  Coincidence?  Dogs?

About a year later we were across the street visiting our neighbors.  They have two little Shih tzu dogs that are as cute as can be.  Ronnie and Pucchi.  Not sure if the spelling is right, I think it is, sounds like poochie.  What can I say, dogs like me.  I guess.  These two jumped up into my lap and of course I petted them.  Well, anyway, you guessed it.  I broke out again.  Same place, the chest.  So, now it's confirmed and I finally realized that I'm allergic to dogs.  Or dog hair. 

About a month ago we were visiting our friends and they have a dog.  A black lab named Bella that I adore.  She's the sweetest dog.  Has a big smile on her face to greet you.  Big smile.  I got a little too close and broke out again.  After two weeks, this time the medicine wasn't working.  I emailed my reg. doc and got a new prescription and used that for a few weeks.  (It was not the dermatologist who saw me the first time all those years ago.)  Anyway, the new stuff wasn't working so I went in to see her (doc) this morning.

Went over everything that's been going on, the close contact with my friends dog approx six weeks ago.  She got her curiosity up and asked to see it.  I pulled up my shirt and she took one look at it and said, "ringworm".  I explained to her that no, it's not ringworm.  It was confirmed all those years ago that it mimics ringworm in appearance.

She got on the computer and took a look at what my dermatologist had said and prescribed for me back then.  So, now I have the official name for this thing.  It's Erythema Annulare Centrifugum.  And they really don't know much about what causes it.  It was first diagnosed for the first time in 1916 by Darier, a French physician, pathologist and dermatologist.  My doctor was curious to learn about this thing she didn't know about and said she was going to research it.

Dr. H. (that's what they call her because her name is very, very long) said that basically the medicine I had from the dermatologist wasn't working because it's so old and is no longer effective.  It was basically like putting on a plain do nothing cream.  She ended up prescribing a one time pill and another tube of the potent cream.

Fingers crossed that this does the trick.  I'm sick of this thing.  Itching and keeping me awake at night.

Oh, I'm sorry, I haven't had any time to take pictures of the yard.  We've been working so, so hard all week long on orders, trying to get everything finished and boxed up for shipping tomorrow.  We still have two things to pack up in the morning before we leave for Carmel.  A coffee table and a Railroad Shelf.

We got up at 7 am and worked until 7:30 this evening.  I just finished up packaging and boxing twelve orders.  No dinner to be had.  Poor Mike ended up with a bowl of Cheerios and I found some leftover egg salad from the other day and made myself half a sandwich.  I'm grumpy.  And tired.

Mike is in the recliner reading the paper.  I'm stretched out on the sofa as I write.  The doors and windows are all open because it's hot and I can hear the fountain in the backyard.  It's so sweet.  The fountain, that is.  Every morning we have hummingbirds and robins and bluejays taking their morning baths in the cool, cool water.  Splashing and flitting to and fro.  It's a joy to watch.

I'm sort of looking forward to this trip.  The reason I say sort of is because our yard still isn't back to normal and my house is dirty.  The floors are gritty and grimy from tracking all that dirt and sand and grout into the house and needs a good mopping or two.  I need to wash our bed sheets.  The furniture is dusty.  That's why I'm grumpy.  I know that once we get away though, I'll be better.  I just hate coming home to a dirty house.  I usually always clean house before we go anywhere so all I have to do when I come home is unpack and do laundry.  Not this time.     

Still more to do.

Carlos (standing) and Jamie are hard at work laying the pavers and brick.  Every day I make them a nice big lunch and all day try to keep them hydrated with ice cold drinks and water.  We're so very pleased with their work and I think they know it.  They're good men and we're blessed to have found them via our neighbor. 

They started working early this morning.  Jamie arrived first and he and Michael ran to Home Depot to pick up mortar and a few more pavers.  Then when they got back, we drove to get another yard of fine grain sand. 

Then Michael and I made a couple of trips back and forth to Vacaville, getting the bricks, of which you see some of them stacked in the background.  Two pallets is what we ended up with to do the enclosed porch and the walkway, 1035 authentic used bricks total.  The guy at The Brickyard gave us a discount which was unexpected and very nice.  We all helped unload the bricks into the wheelbarrows and stack them in the yard.  Basically, I sat in the truck and unloaded the bricks off the pallet for the guys so it would be easier for them to reach the bricks and it ended up being much faster.  Less work.  I stacked neat little rows on the tailgate and they just grabbed them up and stacked in the wheelbarrows.  It went nice and smooth that way. 

We can't wait to see it all finished.  Especially Michael.  He doesn't like messes and I can tell this is making him nervous.  Having the yard all messy.   We have a lot of stuff.  Stuff like statues, stuff like yard art and knickknacks.  All cluttered and driving him insane.  I'm okay with it because I have a vision for it.  And patience.  Which is something that Mike doesn't have.  Patience.  ;-) 

The yard is coming along.

Our neighbor has a landscaping business and over the past couple of days he's been giving us advise and he let us hire a couple of his workers (hard workers!) to help with some of the labor in our yard remodel.  Digging lots of trenches for drainage pipes, moving three yards of 3/4 inch road base rock from the driveway to the backyard, taking out flagstone pavers, removing some sand that was underneath those and spread out some of the road base.  Digging, digging and more digging.  Digging of roots, digging of dirt and digging of sand.

I kept them hydrated with ice water and Gatorade.  Made a nice lunch for them and later on this afternoon, around 2 pm, I surprised them with some strawberry shortcake.  That was fun!  

More work.

Over the weekend, Michael and Greg, jackhammered the concrete.

The boys enjoying the lunch I made.  These are two of the hardest working men I know!
While they did that...

I did this:

I'm redoing the little shaded section of the yard.  I have a walkway that needs to be taken up and relaid.  I have a plan for that. 

 I love my little Mexican Daisies. 

Here is what I worked on over the weekend.  Pulling up the old Rabbits Foot Fern.  Don't ever take a potted Rabbits Foot Fern and plant in the ground.  Big mistake.  It completely took over and choked out my other plants. 

See the little chair?  I have a plan for that area, too. 

There they are, some of the fuzzy footed rhizomes that took over my garden.  A big mess.

DIY Backyard Patio Remodel

Work is never done.  What we're working on now is something I've been wanting to do for years, ever since we took out the lawn and put in my new landscaping design with the path.  One day, I drew up a plan on graph paper and showed it to Mike.  The next thing I know, he was making it happen.  He ripped out the grass, moved the fountain to the center of the yard and removed the brick on the concrete patio and he relocated it out in the yard to my design of a path meandering around the fountain and going to different sections in the yard.  Then we painted the concrete patio where the brick used to be. 

Now, we're taking out the old concrete patio and replacing it with some pretty cobblestone looking pavers from Home Depot made by Basalite.  One of Mike's customer's works for Basalite and is getting us a deal on these.   The color we picked is a darkish grey, not shown here.

4 in. Square 4 Cobble Positano

Originally, we were thinking of putting in a composite decking material and then priced that verses redwood.  We also thought of just leaving the concrete and taking out the planter that ran alongside the house, filling it in with new concrete and just painting the whole concrete patio with patio paint like we did before in the light grey.  The real problem being that when it rains, the water pools up alongside the house because it slopes downward and there are lots of uneven spots and cracks in the concrete.  The cracks weren't really a big issue because they could have been repaired.  All in all, it was the sloping and pooling that decided it.  Removing this concrete is going to be a big job for the boys as it's about four inches thick.  Not sure if it has rebar or not. 

The corner showing where the planter alongside the house has been removed.

The water lines and hose hook up are being relocated today.  Happy those things will be out of the way.  After this is all completed, I'm going to get the phone company out here to clean up all the unsightly phone lines.  The phone company have made a mess of things over the years and the guy keeps telling me that one day they'll clean it up.  Little do they know that day is soon arriving.

We want to have another little garden party this summer.  This time, if our schedule allows,  we'll make it a wine tasting event. 

I have one more section of the backyard that needs some new ideas.  It's my old stone path that leads around to a dry creek bed which has a little bridge Mike built to go over the rock bed.  We have a liquid amber tree that has roots that are invading my path and lifting up the stones and causing raised sections that are a tripping hazard.  So, I'm thinking of taking them all up, putting in a path of some 3/4 inch river stones and setting the large stepping stones centered along the path.  Then taking the leftover ones and putting in a small patio under the arbor which is at the end of the path.  I'll have to get some pictures to show you.  Will post next time.

Dinking

We went away to Cobb Mountain with some friends for the weekend.  Another little getaway.  The weather was gorgeous.  We ate lunch on the porch.  We did a little yard work.  We ate home cooked beans that Sharyn made in the crock pot.  We ate pie and watched movies and read magazines and talked and joked.  We drove to the dumps to get some organic bark chips.  We went out for breakfast.  We stopped at a winery for some wine tasting.  Got some gorgeous pictures of the surrounding landscape.  Basically, we dinked. 

Our definition of dink:  To drive around with no real purpose or destination; wherever the road takes you. 

We dink a lot!  By ourselves and with our friends.  Sometimes we get lost.  We love to get lost because you never know what you'll find.  Back roads, side roads, high roads and low roads.  Just look at the lovely field of lupine we found by dinking. 

Lupine.

When we got home, first thing we did after unpacking was to drive to the lumber yard to get some bricks for edging the pathway in our backyard. 

We didn't waste any time in getting this job started.  We've been talking about it for the past couple of weeks and are so happy we decided to do it.  Now the bark will hopefully stay in the beds and not get in the path so much.

Have a couple areas left to finish.

Once this job is completed, we have a few other changes in the yard to work on.   One is the back porch and the other is the concrete slab patio.  We want to put in a new patio material, leaning towards putting in a composite deck.  For the enclosed back porch, I want to remove the slate and put in brick to match the path because the path leads right to the back porch and the slate just doesn't make sense.  It's not cohesive. 

Last day of Mendocino

Till next time we visit...