A new back yard, well sort of.......

Boy, this month, especially the last two weeks, have been crazy.  We are trying to get all the outdoor work done before the weather turns and we seem to be doing okay, but we hit the wall this morning.  I worked a little on cleaning the garage and Bill "rough" sanded the new vanity for the powder room, but other than that today was  a day to crash.

So, you ask, what have we been up to. Bill built the window for over the garage walk-in door, we worked with the "landshaper" to get the back/side yard in shape before the rainy season (boy, were our neighbors happy to see those blue tarps and pile of river rock disappear), we built a new entry landing between the garage and the house, the window company completed the 'lock & slide' service on the windows, and I even, get this, baked cookies.  (For those of you who know us well, you know what a odd thing that is.)

The walk-in door to the garage is in and now the window above
it is, too! It's great to have a little daylight in the garage.

That's Charles on the ladder finishing up the 'lock and slide' service on
the windows.  The windows all lock so easily and the sliding doors
glide so smoothly now - it great!  We have to say that Sierra Pacific
Windows has been great to work with and Charles is so helpful.

The beginning of the reshaping of the back/side yard.  The yard had been
destroyed by the construction of the addition and had been under tarps and
straw for erosion control since January.  We finally found someone to come do
the big work of reshaping the yard to keep water away from the foundation.

Things were moving along, then we had to find a home for all the extra soil
(fill) that the leveling close to the house created.

One of our friendly neighborhood deer checking out the work.  Evidenced by
several sets of foot prints, they have been doing a lot of inspecting!

It just happened to be one of the hottest two days of the year (okay, so 80°
isn't that hot, but for this part of the the country...) when we were
doing this.  It involved a lot of raking and moving of soil, bark, rocks, etc.
on our part as a followup to the BobCat work. We were more than a little warm.  

Bill with his hippie-dippie bandana to keep all the sweat out of his eyes!
Don't' worry, Maria, he won't wear it out in public......  Bwahahahah!

The entry to the back/side yard by the garage before it was rolled and planted with 

grass seed.  The area's covered in bark (red brown) will be planted with shrubs, etc.

The brown are will be grass, at least for the time being.

The new yard as seen from the porch off our bedroom.  I am hoping the upper
area (back of the picture) will be a great spot for a hammock!  We'll be planting
the berms with smaller trees and perennials - probably next year.

The Doug Fir vanity for the powder room sans top.  Bill's worked on it this past
week and I'll be finishing it this coming week, so before you know it we'll have
a working powder room!  Time for a party!

The new landing at the door between the garage and the house.  Soooo
much better than the two steps (still in use to the right) that were there
before.  We'll replace the old steps with new ones with longer treads shortly.
Along with the new walk in door provides us with a great doggie and shoe
clean off station before going into the house.  Just in time for the rainy season!!
It still needs some paint, but.......