Ready for the rain

"For the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock." Matthew 7:25
Boy, did it rain! But, we got the area filled and leveled before the rains hit!! As you can see, everything leveled out quite nicely. In this case, I was thrilled to have two days of rain.

This photo shows the patio as we come down the driveway. We've added solar lights along the walls that don't serve as steps. Eric now calls the patio the runway because there are four rows of lights running parallel to each other. It's much more noticeable from the front door.

Next thing on the agenda is to get the soil ready for grass! Finally!! After living here for over a year, we're going to have grass in our front yard!!!

Holding it all in

"And I told them how the hand of my God had been favorable to me, and also about the king's words which he had spoken to me. Then they said, 'Let us arise and build.' So they put their hands to the good work." Nehemiah 2:18
This is the beginning of the final section of wall stemming from the patio. Here's the plan - run it parallel to the house and the trees, wrap around the end of the trees, and taper down to the yard. Then pound in all that rebar, back-fill with dirt, level it, and plant with grass or ground cover. Sounds easy enough, right?

We thought so, too, until we ran into tree roots. In fear of a pine tree crashing through the roof of our house, Eric opted to work around the roots rather than cutting them. Good decision. :)

Perfect!!

Tah, dah!! Finished with the wall.
Now, who's going to clean up that mess by the trees?

Show & Tell Friday - It's finished!!!!

Welcome to Kelli's Show and Tell Friday! Do you have something special to share? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, or a treasured collection. Look around your home for something to share; dig through those boxes in your closet if you have to! Share photos and the story that goes with your special item. If you'd like to participate, visit Kelli at There's No Place Like Home and add your name to the list!

"I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one's lifetime; moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor - it is a gift of God."
Ecclesiastes 3:12-13
The patio is finished!!! I tell you what - there is no greater reward to physical labor than to see such outstanding results. Yes, I know I'm bragging. But this is exactly how we pictured it in our minds.

The largest section is level with the driveway which turned out to be more beneficial than we realized. Eric wants to place potted citrus trees in the corner along the center wall. Once we get the greenhouse put up, he can move the trees in there for the winter. I like that idea!

Next project: taking the retaining wall around the trees and leveling all the dirt. Stay tuned!!

Back to the patio

"I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean." Romans 12:14

Some may not enjoy yard work in the least; however, Eric and I are quite thrilled to be working outside. We love being unclean!! (You know what I mean.)

We've started work on the last section, but it's been so long since I've posted so I thought you'd like a reminder. Click here to see where we left off.
The walls are built and it's time to remove the soil. Eric had to use the tiller to loosen the soil inside because it had been there so long and was quite compacted. We removed enough dirt to get down to 5" below the surface of the patio.
Guess who had the camera for this photo? Eric is always saying we have too many pictures of him and not enough of me, but he never thinks about taking a picture. Today, he remembered!

PS - Please excuse the quality of the photos. My digital camera decided to take a leave of absence without filing the proper paperwork in advance. The 35 mm graciously stepped in.

The last section!!

"The enemy has come to an end in perpetual ruins, and Thou hast uprooted the cities; the very memory of them has perished."
Psalm 9:6
The enemy? All the tree roots and gravel from the previous owners' landscaping/circle drive. Thou? It actually means our LORD; however, today it means Eric.

We're getting started on the final level to our front patio!! See this post for the lay-out.
After Eric dug the trench for the timbers, we were able to get the walls built. Everything has been tied in with rebar. Next? Level the inside for layers of gravel and sand, then those enormous pieces of flagstone!

With Michael back in school, we're not sure how to move the flagstone unless we hire someone again. Maybe two someones!

(PS - We know we could break the stones to make them smaller, but both of us really enjoy the statement made by the huge pieces of stone. Too, it makes for a much safer place to put a chair!)


Just had to share this picture of the girls with you.

Aren't they cute?

A major milestone

"So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of the month Elul, in fifty-two days." Nehemiah 6:15
Wall? No - patio. Elul 25th? Close - July 21st. Fifty-two days? HA! Not quite - I'll let you calculate!

But...the largest part is done!! It's finished!! Woo hoo!! This day was a long time coming. I know the entire patio is not finished, but the most difficult and labor-intensive section is complete!!!!! And all joints and muscles are still functioning quite nicely. :)

Here's the view from our front door. Quite a lovely sight!

Hitting the half-way point!

"So we built the wall and the whole wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work." Nehemiah 4:6

Paula's paraphrase:
So we built the patio and the largest patio area was joined together to half its design, for the people had a mind to work.

Here's a shot of a hard day's work. If you look closely, you can see the drains which I've already posted. Now turn around and look the other way.

Yes! More gravel and more sand!! Apparently we did not order enough. Actually, we did order enough for the initial lay-out. But you know how it goes. You get started and realize, "Hey, if we did it this way, it would look so much better." Ideas are spilling out left and right and before you know it, you've run out of supplies. But one thing I know - when it's all said and done, you'll know it's a patio! That's for sure!!

Listening to the rain

"Now with all my ability I have provided for the house of my God...onyx stones and inlaid stones, stones of antimony, and stones of various colors, and all kinds of precious stones, and alabaster in abundance." I Chronicles 29:2
It's raining here in the NW. Imagine that! But what a great opportunity to show you the beautiful rocks we find in the dirt. When everything is wet, the true colors really come through. This is one of the drains we put in the patio. If you look closely, you can see water dripping off the end of the rain chain.

It took me nine months to realize this, but God still shows Himself in the rain. Sound funny? Let me explain. When we lived in KS, we got rain once in awhile. The thunder storms were incredible, to say the least. In fact, thunder storms are my all-time favorite weather phenomenon. To see the awesome, controlled, deliberate power of our Lord would certainly make me appreciate His grace and mercy.

Thunder storms have a beginning, a middle, and an end - just like watching a play performance. The rain in the NW has a hard time figuring out which act we're in. It seems to be perpetually caught in the first act. There is never any climax. Occasionally, I will hear bits of thunder and get all excited that we're moving on to the second act. Then I realize it was just an airplane! So, I settle back into my seat prepared for a long performance.

Since being in the NW, I have come to realize a longer play is OK. An anti-climactic play is OK, too. Not preferred, but OK. God still shows Himself from the treasures found in the dirt to the numerous bird calls to the long-lasting blooms that seem to be frozen in time.

Back to Work

"And the rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights." Genesis 7:12

We're not anticipating that kind of rain. However, we are getting the drains ready on the patio.


Breaking the stones allowed us to have smaller pieces which worked perfectly for the small areas around the drainage grates.

I wanted something to hide the grates without obstructing the flow of water coming off the rain chains. Since we have a never-ending supply, small rocks found in the dirt became the obvious choice. Works pretty good! I really enjoying seeing the contrast between the large flat stones and the small round rocks.

Pressing on

"I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:14

True - we do press on toward this goal. However, today we're also pressing on toward the goal of finishing the patio.

In comes the dirt. For some reason, we thought we had to remove 9" all the way around. In reality, we only had to remove 9" where the drain pipes were. So, we had to bring all that dirt back in.
Thank goodness for the tractor!!

Looking good!

The laser level works great for leveling the dirt all the way across.

Gravel is next. Now I'm really thankful for the tractor!

Can you imagine how heavy that would be?
Or how long it would take with a shovel?

Are we finished? So soon?

Actually, we're finished several hours later. But doesn't it look good?
If you look back near the foundation of the house,
you'll see three little black boxes on the ground.
Those are the grates for the drainage system.
Wait till you see what we did with these!!

You know, it seems to me that something was missing today.
Oh yeah - Michael (our hired summer help)!
I'm sure he's glad to know we still work when he's not around!!
Tomorrow: sand and flagstones.

Decorating the front step

"Adorn yourself with eminence and dignity; and clothe yourself with honor and majesty." Job 40:10

We haven't had closure on a project since finishing the raised bed. It was time for closure again.

Hence, decorating the newly finished front steps.

Rather than sand, we chose ground cover to fill the gaps. Sand was too messy.

We decided to fill the space on the front porch with a large pot.




My neighbor suggested using a ground cover called wooley thyme (aka: elfin thyme). In her yard it grows in the sun, in the shade, in the dirt, and in their gravel driveway. It seems to be virtually indestructible! Eventually, it will grow together and fill all the gaps. At one inch high, it lets off an oregano aroma when crushed. The little purple flowers are so cute!

[Correction 1/12/08: Wooley thyme & elfin thyme are not the same, but we did plant both between the rocks.]

This planter was fun to fill. Draping down the front is Myrtle - Bowles variety. On either side of it is Coral Bells - Caramel on the right and Color Dream on the left. Way in the back is Liriope - Marc Anthony. But the crowning jewel is the Cypress - Cyano-viridis. I loved this tree from the get-go. It's one of those plants you just have to touch. It's so soft and just beckons to be scrunched!

OK. Now on to the other and definitely larger part of the patio. But that can wait until tomorrow!

Up from the ruins

"They in turn gave it [money] to the carpenters and to the builders to buy quarried stone and timber for couplings and to make beams for the houses which the kings of Judah had let go to ruin."
2 Chronicles 34:11

We're not exactly repairing ruins, but we are converting an over-grown yard to a front patio.

With the front step finished, it's time to work on the middle step. See this post to figure out what I'm talking about.

With the help of our trusty orange steed, we had no trouble moving the rocks from the pallets to the patio.

Making the stones fit was another matter. As you can see, Eric had to try several different maneuvers before getting it just right. Those stones can be quite stubborn when it comes to cutting them.

Since the span was only 6', a 2x4 worked great for leveling the stones.


I'd say this day is done!

And a good day's work it was, too!!

Our summer help

"What a help you are to the weak! How you have saved the arm without strength!" Job 26:2

OK. So we're not quite so weak and without strength. However, we are so appreciative of the summer help. Michael is home from college until the end of July. Then he's off to officer training camp with the Air Force! What a worker he is, too. Here's an example of how he's helped, thus far.

Cutting and driving pieces of rebar.

Filling areas with dirt, gravel, and sand.

Helping Eric add cement to the new front step.

Michael, we are too thankful you needed summer work!

A measuring line

"Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a man with a measuring line in his hand." Zechariah 2:1

Before we started laying tile, we determined where the center would be. You can see the lines at the top of the photo and then again on the timber. These reference lines are essential to making sure the tiles are straight.








In this case, a woman had the measuring line in her hand.

Putting tiles on the diagonal meant we had to cut. So much for uncut stones!





Measure the space. Transfer to the tile. Measure again. And again. And again. You get the idea!

Once I'm absolutely sure that I've measured and transferred correctly, Eric cuts the tile.





Eric and I work so well together. He trusts me completely. Not one time did he remeasure or check my work before cutting. That says a lot since I've never done anything like this before! He even tolerates my bent toward perfection by shaving off "just a bit more". He certainly is my perfect mate!

The result was fabulous!! At this point, everything is dry fit.

Once all the tiles were cut and placed, we removed them in preparation for the adhesive. Be sure to keep them in the same order!!


Tomorrow I'll share photos of the finished patio!

The front step foundation

"You shall build the altar of the LORD your God of uncut stones; and you shall offer on it burnt offerings to the LORD your God." Deuteronomy 27:6
Well, we're not building an alter - just a front step. However, we decided to use ceramic tile (uncut stones) rather than flagstone simply because the flagstone was too thick. We grabbed a few pieces that flaked off, and away we went.

The match is almost perfect!

First things first: frame the new front step. Here's a close-up, but look at this post for a larger perspective. After framing, we added layers of gravel and sand as a base for the cement.


Adding the cement was really quite simple and went pretty quickly.















Here I am sealing the cement getting it ready for the next step.

I chose my best grungy clothes for this photo!!













The original front step had started to pull away from the house slightly which meant we needed to bring it back to the correct grade. Level Quick did the trick!







Stay tuned for tomorrow's episode when we see Eric and Paula actually lay the tile!

Starting to see it now

"And it will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions." Joel 2:28

Can you envision the patio? When it's all said and done, we'll have three levels.



1. Even with driveway and the top of the bottom row of timbers.

2. Two timbers higher (in the bottom left corner of the photo and middle level at the back of the photo).

3. Again two timbers higher (the front step and area around the trees).

Right now, the timbers are just sitting there. We decided to dry fit everything before we started pounding rebar again. And I'm glad we did because we soon learned that each of us had a different plan in mind! (My plan won out!)

We saw this after we laid and removed one of the timbers. Each time we lay a timber, we need to level it in all directions. This means pounding it quite a bit which leaves an impression if we remove it later. The wood grain was so obvious in the dirt. Interesting, huh?

Can you guess what this is? It's a root - and I think it's an Oregon Grape. I say that because this area was once infested with Oregon Grapes. I liked how the red and orange swirled together. Quite a contrast against the dirt.