AFTER 8 days of straight rain... We are back...

We are back up and running.. now are patio in progress has turned into our house in progress too...
the patio can not be laid until the mud dries up...

we were always planning on putting new doors along the back of the house..
and have now decided that now is a good time to give us some insulation for this cold house..
and heck.. a stucco exterior as well..
and today we also got a big ol water heater so now i can really wash all the hair on my head.. with hot water...
ahhh lifes little luxuries..

so thats what the guys are up to today,
the house has been banged on all day.
pictures on the walls fell down.. its great!

the dogs are used to it and are now sleeping right thru it...

here are some pics so far...

Day 10 Report.. Rain Rain Go Away

------( pic to the left is of the planter box ) where
we plan on planting lots of bamboo)








It s Raining iN LoS Angeles..
whats up with that?
So we didn't get started again until today (wednesday).. THE GUYs worked fast..
but the rain started up again.. so they were done for the day by 2 PM....
but here is where we are now..
.. its supposed to rain the next 5 days or so..
what luck!!





pic to the right is of Layla running up our new steps..
they Look Giant!


and below.. is silly girl.. running in out of rain!

some fun shots of backyard in progress DAY 9

some fun shots of our BackYard in Progress...

end of day 9

end of day 9
it rained on and off today.. so no concrete today.. but its looking good ! woo hah!

end of day 8

woooooo weeeeee..
today we went to the stone yard .. picked out the stones we want for the patio as well as the wall..
and we also stopped by loews to show our guy the types of doors we were interested in.. looks like all things are coming together... we are pretty excited..
here are the pics from todays progress...

End of day 7..

Ahh its friday.. Finally.. And here are the latest rounds of pics from yard. looks like stairs went up higher than our existing lawn.. so now we are going to have to raise that up a foot or two and sod that. hahah. what a project.. its sooo thrilling though...

Day 6 wrap up

much gets accomplished in one day.. I can hardly believe it..
So the cinder blocks are all in for the steps up to second level...
and the grill nook is nearing completion..
maybe tomorrow they will knock out the entire second level retaining wall..
we shall have to wait and see...

Progress Report Day 6

So here's the latest and the greatest.
The guys are rocking out these steps!
Wooo hah! Dang thats alot of steps!

will report back later..

Progress report day 5

so thankfully Tony was able to talk with construction people this morning and the stairs are getting fixed.
phew! close one.. So far so good.
The 4th lowboy was delivered this morning and as of
330 pm it is about half way full..
These guys are working so hard..
WOW

so here we are at end of day 4

Boy did they do alot today.. Here's where things are as of right now. We are afraid steps arent big enough.. so this all may be changing tomorrow. Geez.. I feel so poorly for perhaps having to undo all of these guys hardwork.. but we have to make it right for us. Keep your fingers crossed.. that this can resolve easily.

hey layla get outta there.. we dont need your pawprints stuck in the cement miss thang!

you say rebar i say rhubarb

So today I let tony know they were putting in the rhubarb..
He laughed at me..

So I look it up in the dictionary..

The rhubarb is a very tart member of the buckwheat family. It is generally eaten as a fruit but is actually a vegetable. ...

versus

Rebar- Ribbed steel bars installed in foundation concrete walls, footers, and poured in place concrete structures designed to strengthen concrete. ..


ummm..
so i was a little off..
whoops..
i am new at this...

( but they kind of look alike)

3 PM day 4.. no cars were harmed

I found entertainment in watching the truck cut in on a sharp angle trying to lift up this low boy to carry it away..
hahah.
they pulled it off. and the white car was not harmed in the process...

morning of day 4..

so here are some pics from the start of day 4.. the guys have already filled up another low boy and its only 11 am..
SO much dirt to move!
Looks like the concrete footer is in and they are starting to stack the
cinder blocks for the first retaining wall.
Excited to see what the yard will look like at the end of the day!
Bye for now!

day 3 progress report

so.. here is a MID DAY Progress report on backyard..
Guys have been working hard to get out all that dirt..
One lowboy arrived this morning at 8 am..
the boys had it filled up with 10 tons of dirt by noon...
Then at 1pm another empty one arrived and the other was on its way...

Today they are putting in a 25 ft L by 2 ft W concrete footer
for the retaining wall..

a flashback to the yard before any digging

so this is a picture of the backyard from a while back...

* note that the first level ( the sloped area) is almost totally gone now.. thanks to the hard work of our workers
we can't wait to see this area all flattened out and the patio
begin to take shape...

Backyard inspirations

here are some pics of ideas for the backyard that we like...
using theme for some inspiration as we go forward...

bamboo shopping..

tony and i ventured to Vista, CA for the afternoon to go bamboo shopping..
here are some pics from the day
....

we are looking for a bamboo that will grow between 15-20 ft high and
give us great coverage from the soil up..
we dont want it to feel too much like a bush
.. its important to still see the straight lines that are the beauty of bamboo...

day 2

day 2 has arrived and now here are some pics of the day and the aftermath
the guys seem to be moving at a great pace and we are anxious to see what will happen next...

end of day 1.....

backyard day 1

so this is what it looks like at the end of day 1..
the dogs are very curious..