Backyard Update!!!

Ok, it's not really an update seeing as I haven't posted about our yard before but I really wanted to show everyone the beginnings of my beautiful backyard!

This is a picture of our back yard taken the day we took possession.  This was also taken before sunflowers invaded and turned our yard into a jungle. Ok, notice the stump....it's hard not to I know.  This baby was a little more than 10 feet around and the ground sloped up to meet it.  It took us THREE tries to get it out...'cause seriously, I need a backyard.  I cannot be sharing with a piece of rotting wood. It's just not an option.  I considered building a gazebo over it, but it stood so tall I would have had to build three steps just to get up to it!

Try #1: Backhoe = FAIL
 Quote: You don't owe me anything. All I did was dig up your yard and then fill it in again.

(Bye bye ugly fence!)

Try #2: I don't have pictures for this guy.  He came and did a few hours work the left to sharpen his blade and told us he'd be back at 9am the next morning.  We didn't end up getting ahold of the guy 'til 2pm the next day when he told us that there was no way he could finish the job for what he quoted and that we needed to renegotiate.  Had he shown up when he said he would, things may have gone differently.  Instead, we asked him very nicely to come pick up the rest of his tools.  He never did.

Try #3: Finally someone who is reliable! He did the whole job AND came back to do touch ups for us even though he too quoted us far less than he should have.

(Stump grinder to the rescue!)

Moral of the Story: For those of you who believe, God works in funny ways.  It took three guys and a whole week but we got half the stump removed for FREE!

On to the other stuff!

The fence was ready to fall over on it's own, so we gave it a nudge (with the backhoe) and replaced it with a row of cedars on the road side and a nice tall cedar fence on the far side.  There's the same crappy fence on the other side of the yard but to replace it requires talking to the other neighbour lady....and she's kinda scary....

(Note the ugly fence and the obscene amount of wood chips that had to be hauled out before we could even start ANYTHING.  Those chips go at least 4 feet deep)

Then we brought in some gravel and made a parking area for our ever-increasing collection of vehicles that don't run. Sadface. I made a compromise with hubby that we can park things in the backyard AS LONG AS THEY'RE UNDER A CANOPY.  That way no one else - including myself- has to look at them!

Next on the project list is to lay some pretty paving stones to make a patio between the carport and the gravel! I love me a pretty little patio with a glass table to drink my morning coffee at!