We're Done!

Hi everyone - the deck and fence crew finished officially on Monday, but the trash and extra lumber is still outside waiting to be picked up. But the pictures tell the story - they did a great job. It's a much nicer back yard with more privacy for the pool. We love it!

If anybody is looking for a great fence/deck crew, this is the place to find them!

Storms over Portland

The weather has slowed down progress on our backyard project, somewhat. The pool is mostly finished, except for one leak in a hose that existed prior to the changing of the pool liner that will be fixed tomorrow.

The deck is going in now. It is a work of art.

Pool Guys

Since Tricia is so interested in the Pool Guys, I will share with you this little story.

There was a crew leader and two younger men installing the liner. The two younger men didn't have shirts on. One of them had a very dramatic tattoo down his side. I didn't have my glasses on and as I squinted at the artwork down his side, I thought it was a carrot. I said so.

There was a moment of silence and then the guys burst out laughing. "It's a Spear!" the young man protested loudly. The crew leader was laughing the hardest. "These boys are native Americans," he explained, "they get tattoos of warrior images on them."

Halfway Through

This weekend, the workmen are off, but lots has been accomplished in the first week.

The pool has a new liner and is filled again. Although the chemicals haven't been adjusted, the water is swirling and being filtered through the pump.

The deck folks have framed out the steps and garden box that we wanted done.

The Pool is Filling!

They're Working on the Pool!

OK - the pool guys have arrived and they've taken out the liner and are preparing to install the new liner. Here's the progress in pictures.

A Beautiful Fence

So, the first fence installment is done this evening - this is so beautiful. I'll just let you see the pictures.

Construction Day 2 - continued

Today has been a great day. And we're not done yet, but I wanted to show off the progress made. It doesn't look like much, but I am just so impressed by the craftsmanship of these workmen. They not only know how to build fences, they are really creative about it.

And hard working.

Today they took out this stump by hand, plus an old holly tree that was needing to go.

They filled in the holes these trees left and leveled the entire area.

They are busy rebuilding the fence sections between our house and Karen's this evening.

We tore down and rebuilt the shed on both the East and South sides today and I helped!

And now David (the workman) is putting corner pieces on the shed. I painted them both with house paint I had left over.

Well, back to work!

Construction Day Two

Today we are taking down the fence between us and Karen's house next door. Her dogs are penned up so we have to work fast to get the fence between us taken down and rebuilt.

As of 8:21 AM the fence is gone. They're grinding some stumps down of trees we had to remove and by this afternoon there should be a fence rebuilt here. Stay tuned...

The Deck and Fence are GONE

OK - now this is what my yard looks like without a deck and back fence.

Yes, it is a mess. But the die is cast and we are now in motion to make something beautiful!!

Construction Zone

We are in the midst this weekend of preparing for our two week construction madness. Our back fence, shed walls, deck and pool are scheduled for upgrades. Saturday David and I started readying the area for the contractors to start on Monday.

Yesterday's tasks were to cut back the foliage along the fenceline, and start clearing out the pool accoutrements, as well as start emptying the swimming pool.

By last evening we had the water nearly out of the pool, and things are starting to look bare in the backyard.

The little patch of grass I've been trying to save for the last year is now covered with pool stuff.

But we're so excited to see what happens on Monday when the deck and fence are ripped out!