Day One: Sticks and Stones

I recently acquired a new home...at least for me.  The house reminds me of my beat-up ol' 1991 Chevy truck.  It's been spray-painted, it has rust spots everywhere, and she's just not much to look at.  But she only has 75,000 miles and has been the workhorse I've needed her to be.  She has never let me down.

So inside, she is sharp, but outside, she needs work.  My first order of business was tackling the landscaping.  The home is a foreclosure and has empty anywhere between 18 and 24 months, depending upon the neighbor or realtor you ask.  Thankfully, the home has been cleaned and mowed about once a month during that time period, but let's just say the rest of the yard has been left to fend for itself.

So when I acquired the home, I acquired ALL of the home.  And that included some hideously nasty landscaping in both the front and back yard.  But as my dad has taught me to be able to say (I've realized this is a gift), "Andy, all she needs is a shave and a haircut."  That phrase has become my motto in purchasing homes...and furniture...and motorcycles...and anything else.  She just needs a little bit of work...and time...and love.

The yellow home...with an overabundance of untame landscaping out front.

So on Day One, I just went at it.  I pulled up every stone I could find in the front yard and tore up everything that didn't resemble a blade of grass.  I want nothing but grass in a yard!  I don't care what landscapers say, I don't care what HGTV shows advertise in their sitcoms, I love GRASS!  That's what a yard should be!

Well, I would quickly realize I had my work cut out for me.  This yard had some extensive landscaping...done by the previous owner...and rocks and stones seemed to be the go-to style of choice.  No worries, that just means a little bit of sweat.  Ok, a LOT of sweat.

I just pulled up stones.  I filled up a truck.  I pulled up more stones.  I filled up another truck.  I dug up rocks.  Another truck.  I found bricks...and bricks...and bricks.  But I wouldn't let any of them stay.  They were all coming with me in the back of that truck!

The original landscaping.  Overgrown and overdone.

Day One.  I'm removing it all!

Sometimes the best part about doing a project like this is re-using the materials.  So on truckload #1, I headed to my sister's house.  I asked if she could use any landscaping stones, and wouldn't ya know it, she and her husband had already started a fire pit ring of leftover stones from their yard...they just ran out.  So I made a quick trip over (seeing my nieces MAY have been a factor, too) and built them a little firepit ring!  They already had the tire ring, but what a difference hiding that does for the yard!  Needless to say, I think she is pleased.  Her husband later commented about he loved it, too.  Little things go a long way!  And best of all?  It was FREE!!!  Just ol'-fashioned sweat labor.

A free firepit!  (Now brother-in-law just needs to level his yard).  :)

Front Yard.  Yet another brick/stone/rock contraption!

No more!  Removing it all to replace it with grass!

In order to take a little bit of a break from the backbreaking work of digging and lifting rocks and stones, I also decided to tackle the backyard.  Now for every stone the front yard held, the back yard held a branch.  The landscaping had been untouched for a couple of years...and the yak bushes were more than happy to multiply.  And the trees were ecstatic to branch out (you see what I did there?).  :)

So I just chopped away.  Chop, chop, chop.  I raised the low-hanging branches to a height where I could finally see my neighbors!  Big branches, little branches, alive, dead, I didn't care.  I was going to free up this back yard!

Looks like a tornado went through!

Of course, I had basically run out of truck space, so I had to solicit the use of my brother's truck (thanks, bro) for the branches.  But even then, I just focused on one load tonight.  So at the end of the day, I had hauled off three truck loads of rocks and stones and one truck load of branches.

The yard was becoming free.  I spent absolutely NO money today.  Just good ol'-fashioned physical labor.  That's not to say I didn't get a quote first before doing the work myself.  Long story short, the work I did today came out to about $800 worth of labor from a landscaper.  I worked about 10 hours.  I'll GLADLY take $80/hour for my efforts.

Day One Complete.