There was a bit of traffic congestion on our street at about 3:45pm, Wednesday, when the truck in which sod had been delivered to us blocked the school bus' progress (photo, below). Had the sod been delivered at the scheduled time, three hours earlier, such a problem would not have occurred.
The landscaping crew had been hard at work since Monday morning, preparing for the arrival of the sod. There were three areas of rework: 1) in front of the house, a foot or two of planting bed was removed in favor of grass, to allow Hunky Husband sufficient room between the ginkgo tree and the planting bed to pass his lawn mower; 2) between our house and Jason's/Tanya's house, the remainder of the shrubs/vines/irises was removed in favor of grass, to allow me to spend less time, effort, and expense in maintaining the area; and 3) in an arc edging the woods, fill dirt was brought in to replace what flooding had washed out (repeatedly, over the years), and grass was to be planted.
Landscaping crew in the front area - not all that much change to visual presentation:
Between the houses - last year before any work was done:
Between houses - this week, after the removal of all vegetation and during laying of the sod:
Between houses with all sod laid:
Actually, I liked the way the side yard (between houses) looked in the "before" photo; but, 1) there is now less fire hazard to our neighbor's home (and, thus, to ours) and 2) it will be so much easier for HH and me to care for grass than for the plantings. As octogenarians, we don't expect as much from ourselves.
Along the woods - last year, prior to any work:
Along the woods - after last summer's tree work and this week's filling and sodding:
There are only two more major projects that I expect to complete this year: 1) Re-tiling in HH's bathroom and 2) clean-drilling and plugging holes in the rough cedar siding (left when the old porch was torn out last summer) and painting the back (SE) and SW sides of the house. Everything else will just have to wait until next year!
The sod looks good and will definitely be much easier for you to maintain.
Hope you had a wonderful Birthday!
Posted by: bogie | April 21, 2018 at 07:16 PM
Very cool. Looks great.
Posted by: Ingineer66 | April 22, 2018 at 12:05 AM
Bogie--That side yard has been re-done so many times that I've lost track. Originally, we had zero grass between the houses - planted ground cover & bushes. Then, I took out the ground cover and made that area my vegetable garden - keeping bushes along the foundation of our house and on the slope next to the neighbor's yard. The garden proved too much for me; so, after a few years, I had them put in grass where the veggie garden had been - and, over the years, added the upright juniper, some sweet spire bushes, and pyracantha on the slope.
Thank you for the wishes and for the lovely card. Except for his 75th birthday, held a little late to coincide with the bash honoring his volunteer achievements, we've never made a big deal about our birthdays. (HH'll never forget the shock when you walked in during the award presentation!) HH took me out to lunch for this birthday, and we called it "good"!
Posted by: Cop Car | April 22, 2018 at 11:54 AM
Ingineer--Thank you for the kind words. You always say the nicest things!
Posted by: Cop Car | April 22, 2018 at 11:55 AM
Thank you. That is because you are a nice person that posts nice stories to comment about. Hope the school bus was not detained too long.
Posted by: Ingineer66 | April 22, 2018 at 12:05 PM
Ingineer--The school bus was held up for 1 or 2 minutes; which, I'm sure, seemed much longer to the poor driver.
Posted by: Cop Car | April 25, 2018 at 11:25 PM