Our Patio

I apologize for everyone for not getting around to reading your blogs... I'll try to catch up this evening late, or Monday morning.  Tomorrow is my mother's side family reunion.  Some cousins I have not seen in 30 years, and I am so looking forward to renewing friendships.  I'm fixing a simple salad to take, and some delicious no-bake peanut butter bars found on  Pinterest. 

If they come out well... I'll post the recipe.  I want to make them first! 

So today, very early, at 6:15 AM, the men arrived to work on our patio before the humidity came up.  It's brutal, now, at noon. 

Um.... they had some help. Thank heavens Derrick is laughing. 

The form was made, the gravel set.... and the rebar laid down. 

Then the cement truck arrived.  I did not know how they "built" the long chute from which the concerete is poured.  The sections are hanging on either side of the back of the truck. 

Here the sections have been attached. 

(and under my breath I'm saying... "Oh, my poor yard" from the weight of the truck. 

Here comes the concrete.  Nick, the man with the green do-rag, tests it and declares it okay, so he begins to swing the chute and directs the driver to pull forward and back up as they run it out. 

It starts to pour, and they worked it fast, this is dad and son, Donnie and Derrick. 

Nick swung the chute as the cement poured out. 

Screeded and floated, or I should say, floated and screeded.  The corners at the south end are rounded, and it slopes down to the south.  See where the bare spot is on the ground on the right?  We are going to make a planting bed clear around the patio the width of this brown area.  The two bump out pieces are going to hold the barrels planters that are off to the side in the above picture, and there will be some gravel in between them so I won't have to cut there. 

I'll take a picture of it as it is curing so you can see what it looks like looking up to the house.  Keith will be building new steps from the deck to the patio in a few days.  

The old step platform was lifted in ONE piece by the skid steer last night, and is set on the side of the deck.  On it, we'll store the bird seed cans, the charcoal container, and the Weber grill.  We have some dirt left that we need to reposition, but otherwise, the patio is just about finished.  

We have some sturdy chairs on the deck, but we are thinking of getting a sturdy table and four chairs to set on the patio with an umbrella.  Keith has wanted this patio for a long time, so I'm sure glad it's finally become a reality, and will be so useful for a family picnic this summer! 

Now, a few weeks ago I put "Gary's Outdoor Wanderings" on here for a few days, but Gary quit posting at that point.  He has started again, and he has taken some wonderful pictures on one of the rivers he patrols.  I thought you might enjoy seeing them, so here is the 

LINK.

It's not that hot today, but very, very muggy, and we suspect some storms are headed our way this weekend.  Tonight we have our first official ball game of the season for the T Bones, so I'll go to church, and then come home and feed the babies and then go to the game, which we enjoy so much, with Keith. 

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! 

Lotsa Doin's

Whew, we have lots of pictures again today. 

I worked in two of the flower beds extensively.  Though it was 68 degrees out, the humidity was sky high.  They are telling us that we are going to have possible severe storms by Sunday. 

I got the southern flower bed filled in and mulched.  Yes, there is still a ton of grass to pull and dig out in the unused bed behind it.  I'm going to put straw deeply on that bed in hopes of killing some of the weeds.  We hope to use that bed next year for soft fruits, bramble fruits. 

Way down at the top of the picture, there is a bare spot.  I'm putting some plants I started from seed there, that are still on the porch. 

I was stunned that as many plants returned to this bed, since we had such a brutul summer last year.  

The peony in about the middle is now four years old, and it has huge buds swelling on it.  The year I transplanted it, I thought I had lost it. 

My hope is that someday, I'll start enough perennials and fill in all the spots so we won't need to mulch as much.  I did put dirt and peat moss under the mulch in many places.  

Here's the other bed I worked on.  It has the least in it... some beautiful iris... a huge hollyhock in the middle, which, as a biennial, only grew on last year.  I hope to have blossoms from it this year.  There is some sedum, and at the other end, some liatris and more iris.  I planted some glads in this bed, using a lot of fresh Miracle Gro dirt and as you see, heavily mulched it. 

I finally am adept at getting the trailer connected to the mower reliably... so am using it to haul things I formerly hauled in the yard carts.  Gosh, it's saving my back so much. 

Excellent picture of your blogger.  I had just cut the yard and the north end, and thank heavens did not run over or kill this baby turtle.  He went down to the pasture to live. 

I took a break when Keith got home from work... and we put our plastic chairs in the pasture, and let the babies out of their pen to play.  Every time they realized they were far away from us, back they would come running to mommy and daddy. 

They are now eating about every four hours, but they sleep all night.  I'll feed them at 8 PM, and then put them in their little barn for the night.  I go out between 6:30 and 7:00 in the morning, and feed their morning bottle.  

They had another visitor today, little Aaron, who is Troy and Kathy's grandson.  He loved playing with them, and they ran up and down the pasture with him as his grandma and I watched them. 

I know they'll be good and tired tonight. 

And look what else is happening: 

Yep, the patio is being started tonight.  They've already prepared the ground, and they are getting ready to lay the gravel underlay. 

That's Troy standing next to Keith.  His brother in law and nephew have the concrete company. 

It's quite the project.  I thought it was just going to be two guys and a wheelbarrow. 

They have a COMPANY, even. 

Sheesh. 

I'll take better pictures, right now, Aunt Abby needs to go potty. 

That's it for a humid Friday at Calamity Acres.