Well, believe it or not, we do have a life going on outside of this whole pregnancy thing {which Chris may disagree with at times}. Last weekend we made it to College Station for the football game and got to go to our good friends' one year old's birthday party {which was absolutely perfect Sarah!}. Chris's sister came in town for a visit this week and we really enjoyed staying up late for once, we celebrated our friend Jana's birthday, and we got massages! Of course I have absolutely no evidence of any of these events happening because I have been totally slacking on the picture front.
Meanwhile, we are back at the Carr household, picking up right where we left off with the renovations. We have replaced the last 2 gold fixtures in our house with some oil rubbed bronze fans {hip hip horray! and did I mention we installed them ourselves!}. And of course the one project we have been putting off since day 1 has finally come to the forefront. Our yard.
Here is what is in the works for the yard renovation:
- New, taller fence in the backyard. Old one was rotted and dark.
- No more garden or grapes. The trees were not really condusive to the existing garden boxes that were there when we moved in, so we plan on building some new ones in a more sunny part of the yard {probably at a later date} and the grapes had to come down with the fence.
- New french drains throughout the back and side yard. This should help the grass grow and the rain water won't sit in certain areas of the yard. Yay for that.
- Removing two large trees in our front yard/flower bed. We think this will change the look of the front of our house quite dramatically. We love the trees, but you can't see the house or the front door.
- Removing the side flower (?) bed. This bed, I am guessing, was originally created when the 5 citrus trees were planted. Several different herbs were planted in the bed at that time, which have since completely overgrown the entire area including mint, onions, and who knows what else, which I cannot identify. On top of that, we lost our 2 lemon trees this past winter from some form of disease that had infected the trees while the house was vacant. Our two lime trees are doing well, and our one key lime tree is trying its best to come back. My fingers are crossed, it had such a good produce last year. So this bed, with the 3 remaining trees will be cleaned out {did I mention it is full of gravel as well} and substantially reduced to a much smaller and more manageable flower bed that will actually have non-edible and flowering plants in it.
The work started this past week and let's hope they finish this week, because the rain so far has put a slight delay on it. Here are some quick overview shots before and during the work in progress.
The Very Old Fence
The Front of the House Before
{please excuse the fact that the trees need to be
trimmed, we have put that off until we remove these two}
The side yard
With Herbs? and Gravel !
The fence came down
{which made for some very interesting
restroom breaks for Dusty I might add}
The fence is back up
{and the grapes/gardens are down}
{gate still to be put back up here}
The french drains are in
{still need grass in the back yard}
Side yard is under construction
Trees are down, but not gone yet
Wow! When I summarize it like this it feels so much smaller in scale than it has felt for us. We cannot wait for it to be finished, but even then we will have a small "open items" list that we will have to finish at a later date {i.e. grass in the backyard next spring- if we plant now it might not take since winter is right around the corner}. Stay tuned for an update.
