More Things to Do here - Prepping for a Wedding

 Last year a friend of my youngest asked if they could hold their wedding at our house. 

We've had several weddings here. Plenty of room outside. But it has been a while since we have help a wedding here. And we have added lots of parts to the yard. Fenced gardens for blackberries, raspberries and boysenberries. Plus one for blueberries. As well as one for grapes. And we have planted a lot of fruit trees. 

We have a section that has cactus and other prickley plants. An area with lots succulants.  An area where the tortoise lives - that has the shadehouse as well. An area for the pond and water turtles. 

There is a big old peppertree out front. I decided that is where the wedding will be held. Around the corner and the west side of the house, they can have the dinner. 

I am not sure what all they want to do since the person helping plan it has not shared many details. So it has been a guess for me. They did share that people should not wear heels because it is mostly grass. Well not really, no grass, just weeds which as already turned brown. I have been watering them but it has not been super successful. A few more little green weeds have popped up. 

I was going to have my dogs stay at a kennel but I don't want them gone for a whole weekend. So we are going to clear an area on the northwest side of the yard and put in a little fenced area.  I am hoping they don't bark too much. 

The Steps - In Progress

 Hi there

We had a great time building the steps. Everyone jumped in and helped do something. Even the grandkid helped pound down the gravel and sand, as well as adding sand to go in the spaces and sweeping it so it fills them up. 

We actually have finished up the steps and they are a major improvement over the steps we build 20 some years ago.  Those were initially great but had worn out and rotted so they were no longer safe to walk on.  The DIL asked for steps for a Christmas present. We were happy to oblige since I had some time off from school. 

So the picture is the steps in progress. Four steps and the landing. Step Five has been added and now we just need to move some of the excess dirt to another location... Fill gopher holes around the yard? Another endless duty. 

 

Once we get the extra dirt moved we will be on to the next project. We do need to get the front yard looking good so I have been cleaning it up and putting in some new plants. A friend asked to be married in our yard - not the first wedding here. So we will be on to something completely different. 

Never a dull moment.  

Making Things - This Week Steps in the Yard

 This week we have been building steps to go from the little house down to the office. We had built steps there a long time ago when we moved in but that has been about 20 years ago so those steps rotted out and were not really safe. So the kids asked for new steps. 

We had pavers we had picked up in 2020 from a friend of a friend. They were moving and had piles of used pavers that needed to go. So we helped with that. Many truckloads full. 

We bought some 4 x 6's and some lag screws. Sand and gravel too. Measured a couple of times and started working.  It took more time to do than I thought. We still have one more step to build but they are really solid.  We built a big landing space and then 5 steps going up. We have 4 steps done. Step 4 was built today. 

It's been a lot of hard work. But so much fun and they look pretty darn awesome. I am really pleased with them and so are the kids. 

Making Things for around here is wonderful! 

I will add images later.