Monday, April 13, 2009

{He's a Busy Bee}

David has been dying to love on the back yard for a long time.
Our sad grass really needed it. It's just never, ever looked good.
Part of it's the type of grass, and then it was full of crab grass.
It was really bad...



See, I don't exaggerate. Plus, like Michael Moreno once said,
we basically "have two humans pissing on it". And no, David
and I don't pee outside. He was referring to these cutie pies...


(pictured here camping up north)

So, D finally dug in and did it. My god it was a lot of work for
him, but it looks so amazing now. Here's what he did:


Pulled up the brick border on this side of the lawn. You see how
there was dirt and rock between the lawn and the pool decking?
One of the goals with this project was to bring the grass right up
to the pool decking, making the grass area bigger and eliminating
some of the rocks. Also, do you see that electrical outlet sticking
up in the dirt there? He dug that out and will be moving it to the
side of the house so it isn't in the middle of the new grass.


Then he made a plan for where the new grass would go and
arranged sprinkler heads accordingly.


Worked into the night...


...to get all the old grass dug up and removed....


...so he could get up early the next morning and do the
next phase.


All with the help of his friends. :) Killian and Norah.


He loaded up the old grass to be taken away.


Ordered new grass to be installed. It's fairway grass - so
green and plush.


And started laying it down.


He did a lot to get the sprinklers working just so.


And did it all in time so the new sod stayed
alive and happy.


He got the edges tucked in nice and tight.


Then, he had to clean the old concrete off the
bricks he removed from that one side of the lawn...


so he could bring them over and reinstall some of them...


making the new edge, going up to the pool decking. Once the
concrete dried, he gave them a good scrubbing.

And after all that, we went from this:


To this:



Woo-hoo!

9 comments:

Lis said...

okay, ar eyou kidding me? he did that in like a weekend? WHAT? REALLY?? Amazing!!! WOW! I want to walk in your grass!! AZ grass is so nice and soft! I miss that!!

Samara Link said...

Lis, he pulled up the grass and put the new grass in all in one weekend. Also did most of the sprinkler head stuff that weekend. He did the bricks this past weekend. Still though, it was a lot of work and he did it all solo. I was impressed, too!

Sue Thomas said...

He's good!!! Do you rent him out? LOL!!!!

Unknown said...

okay - now that it's look all green a purty - remember the KETCHUP on their dog food keeps their urine from burning brown holes in the grass. Seriously - a couple of good squirts on their food every couple of days...NO SPOTS!

(okay - except maybe for the allergy girl!)

Looks awesome though - congrats!

carlene federer said...

Very resort-like!!! I know you did all that work cuz I'm coming over next week, LOL!!!
good luck with the laptop...bummer :(

Kristi @ Mi Vida Ocupada said...

Great job David!!! That grass looks perfect to walk on bare-foot! What a great improvement :) I can't believe he did it all himself

TruJen Phtography said...

D-You're the man!!!
It's beautiful!
Also, whose truck? I like it!
And, what scrapylandsusan said about ketchup?!?! Really???? How the heck did she figure that out?!
Cool beans!
Love ya,
Jen

SplendidlyImperfect said...

Wow, he did all that in one weekend??? It looks great!

Samara Link said...

Just FYI, I looked up the idea of putting ketchup on their food to see why it was said to work. Another popular idea is tomato sauce. I won't be doing it. What it does is add salt to their diet so they drink more which dillutes their urine and makes it less likely to burn the grass. It will eventually hurt their organs. Terrible idea! And with Norah, who is in a crate while we're gone - she wouldn't have access to water if she was thirsty. And if she did drink a lot before we left, she may be more apt to have a full bladder while we're gone. A healthier alternative all around is to give them a smidgen less dry dog food and then add a bit of water to it. Let the water absorb into the food and then feed it to them. That gives them extra water and may help. I just started that this morning. So, we'll see if it works. I'm hopeful!