GRASS!!!

The grass is growing pretty good. We have a few spots that are more bare, but for the most part there is little peach fuzz grass everywhere. Even though we planted the backyard about a week after the front it is growing at about the same pace. My bulb flowers came up too and look pretty nice! Also got a picture of the weeping cherries and willow that tom's mom brought us.

ODD JOBS

Tom worked on building the walls underneath the stairs.

I cleaned up the basement a little and put some of the hi-hat covers on the ceiling.

Tom's dad started to put together a sprinkler system. One manifold for the front of the house and another for the back that we can use to water the plants.

His mom worked on pulling out these really huge rooted weeds from the front lawn. We should have taken them out with the backhoe before we got the harley rake, but who knew that the harley rake didn't maul them enough to kill them.

STAIRS

Today we worked on installing the stairs. We started in the morning with the basement staircase. We had to build the landing for the 2nd portion of the basement stairs and put some hardwood on that landing. We left the bottom set off because we want to open up the wall in the basement after inspections so we had the stair builder make them flare on one side. We can't move the wall yet so we will just put a temporary set there for now. We need hardwood on the top landing, but we ran out. They came out really nice.

In the afternoon his dad was over so he helped Tom install the main staircase in the foyer. Those stairs are much much heavier so I was of little help. They got them installed and they came out really nice. They are not completely secured yet so we will have to finish them up.

DRIVEWAY PAD

On Sunday we got some hoses and sprinklers for the backyard. And Tommy worked on leveling out the rock on the driveway pad. I weeded the flower area along the driveway and Tommy brought some more dirt. We had a slow day because yesterday was a lot of work.

HOT HOT HOT

Today was an extremely hot day. Tom's mom stayed the night last night and woke up before us. She started early in the morning working on raking and picking rocks out of the backyard. Eventually Tom, Hooper and I woke up and joined her... BUT we wished that we had gotten up earlier because it was really really HOT today. We raked the entire back yard and put wheel-barrowed the rocks to the back of the property. It took some time because of the heat but we managed to get it done and seeded the lawn before we had enough.

Here are pics of the final grading and seeding in the backyard and the sprinklers set up in the front yard.

SIDE YARD

When we got home from work I quickly went to the vet with Hooper. He had his first visit and come to find out he has pneumonia. The doctor new as soon as he touched under his neck and then he said " Was he one of the puppies from the Tractor Supply adoption?" Of course the answer was yes and apparently all the dogs he has seen as a result of those adoptions had pneumonia. So we left with no additional puppy shots and instead with antibiotics.

Tom's mom had been working on the lawn during the afternoon and Tom and I joined her this evening. We worked on raking the stones and chopping out the roots on the side of the house. Before it got to dark we were able to throw down some grass seed.

YORK RAKE

Tom worked in the backyard today with the york rake. Using it to get all of the rocks out and tear up some more of the roots.

Me and Hooper weeded some of the plant bed along the driveway. We need to get some mulch on there so it stops growing weeds!

GRASS PLANTED

Day 1 for the front yard grass. We put the york rake on the kubotka and raked the front yard, because it rained yesterday and was therefore too hard for grass. Then we spread the seed and set up the sprinklers! Now we wait! I hope it grows!

Finally got some pictures of the yard after the Harley Rake...

DIRT and DOORS

tom's mom suprised us and spent the day here finishing up the front yard. She ended up with a huge pile of rocks in the front yard, but unfortunately by the time we got home from work the thunderstorms had rolled through twice already so the yard was too muddy to through down any seed.

Instead Tommy and I came inside and put the painted doors back on the hinges upstairs and put on the doorknobs.

Hooper had a little lovin' with his Duck...

HARLEY RAKE

Friday I was here with Tom's parents. We loaded the truck with some garbage wood and stumps and dumped that off at the recycling center. Then loaded the unused pavers on the truck and I returned them to Home Depot. And the rest of the day we continued to clean up the yard and his parents shredded some more. When Tommy got home from work he sharpened the stump grinder and ground a few stumps.

Saturday was a short day. Tommy moved some dirt out of the future patio location and I moved some mulch around a few trees. Then we went to a fun BBQ!!!

In general Sunday was the last big push to clean up the yard... grinding stumps, moving dirt, moving mulch, shredding sticks.... Then in the evening Tommy changed the oils in the kubotka.

On Memorial Day we got up early and picked up a few last piles of roots and rocks... Then Tommy's uncle came with the rototiller and helped tommy take the backhoe off the kubotka. Tommy and I took a ride to the rental place and picked up the Harley Rake. Got it back and the guys hooked it up. Then we spend the day with Tommy straining his neck to drive the kubotka around with the harley rake while the rest of us raked and picked up piles of rocks. The Harley rake is pretty decent at removing the rocks and it certainly does a great job of leveling the dirt.
The front yard is pretty rocky soil so it took a good part of the day to get the rocks out and it was HOT!!! The back yard has a lot less rocks but a few more roots so we still have some cleaning up to do there.

These are pictures of the yard before the Harley Rake, I didn't take any at the end of the day.