Yard Sale, Patio and Dirty Work

 So the 13,14,15th was the city wide yard sale in North Liberty. I'm not sure who had the bright idea to yard sale for three days, but........

There were 260 yard sales listed on the group's social media. 

Dilly had the right idea I think. We spent 3 days moving stuff in and out of the garage as the weather changed. Andrew's Gramma had so much stuff! It was amazing. We'd get one tote emptied out and she'd magically appear with another one! 

Dilly and Drew made their own fun with the ball of string. 

So cute...and Dirty! Speaking of dirt....I hired an outfit to come and landscape a little bit of our back yard. American Outdoor Services came and got started on a new patio for us!

This is the backside of the house, the East side.

They'll be bringing in cement tomorrow. 

And they will be doing a drainage improvement in the front yard. Adding dirt and re routing the downspout drain so it goes away from the house better. 

But that means that the daylilies and other bulbs out front need to be dug up or they will be buried and die. DD came over and dug for two days to get them out to safety. It was so HOT, she worked so hard, now I hope they will survive until we get them back in!

Here's a before look at the side with the A/C all overgrown and weedy. 

And here it is ready for more work.

Here's the cement!

And here are Dilly's hand prints forever in the cement. He wanted to grab it, so they are a little claw-like, but WE all know who they belong to!

I'm loving this cement!

Look here the back is finished-they need to bring in a little bit of dirt, but it's too muddy after a lot of rain last night, so they will try to bring it on Monday. The guys started the work on the South side, and it's shaping up well. It's so HOT, these guys are really earning their money this week!

Doesn't that look nice? So much better than the weeds! American Outdoor Services propertymaintenance.com/# Has done a great job so far.

Now just to get the front done, hopefully on Monday!

A Little Progress

So I cobbled together this temporary fence to keep the canines contained while some cement was coming for the new deck.

The contractors arrived and removed the steps, and 

prepared a little pad for the bottom of the steps-I like to think of it as a doggie doormat. It's about 6' X 8' or so. 

And here comes the cement!

It was a good day to be outside-not too hot, not too cool.

We've been waiting since last year for this work to get going.

After the derecho, we had damage to the deck, so we decided to upgrade a little with the cement. 

It will be so nice to have a sturdy place for the bottom of the steps. Plus maybe the dogs will leave a little dirt out there instead of tracking it all in.

It didn't ake much time at all and they had the cement all dumped in.

They worked it all out -doesn't it look great!

The view from the dog containment fence!

We're looking forward to more work in a week or two. Some of the lumber supplies are on order, so we're waiting on that to arrive. More to come!

Drainage

 So, home ownership is filled with all kinds of issues. One of ours is the drainage from the driveway.

Back in June-when I took this picture, we decided to see about having the driveway fixed so it would not create a lake in front of the pedestrian door every time it rains.

 Now in November the company we contracted with, back in June, have arrived to put in a drain system.

 They cut away the asphalt driveway closest to the house and dug down.

 They seem to be working pretty quickly. It's cold outside, so I imagine that's why.

 At the West end of the driveway, they pull out the lilac bush and cut away some asphalt there too.

 Then they compact the base and lay in the drain pipes. Those square looking ones with the black on the top are grates the will be in the driveway.

 This is the way it looks from inside the garage. The piping goes along in front of the garage roll up door, into the corner and then turns and goes the length of the house to the front yard.

 They put in a clean out opening at the end on the North, at the bottom of the hill. I'm not sure how we'll keep that cleared, but we'll see how it comes out.

 They excavated quite a bit of dirt in the front section, where the lilac bush was.

 They also brought in some gravel.

 And here it's about ready for the cement.

 THey had a ton of equipment parked all over the place, in the street, in the driveway, in the yard.

 Then the cement truck came while I was gone.

 You can see where they framed the end of the drain where the lilac bush used to be.

 Then they tucked in the cement under some burlap and left.

 I have no idea how long this will be, but I have people coming for Thanksgiving and they need to be able to come up the steps, so I call them and they say they will put the steps back for us on Wednesday-we can't drive on it for a while longer, but can walk on it.

 See the grates? They peeled the black tape off of them and chipped away bits of cement.

 So we're ready for Thanksgiving at our house.

 The cement is doing whatever it is that cement does,

And our family can get in through the front door! I can't drive into the garage though for 2 weeks or so!