I barely left home in October. But that doesn't mean nothing got done. It was a great month for before and afters. A lot of hard work, but it sure paid off!
Beside the house was a huge ivy plant. We all wondered what was under it. Since there was this river rock coming from it, some of us thought we might discover a water feature of some sort. Instead, it was the remains of a fallen tree.
It sure made a difference getting rid of the shed and ivy! Same spot for both the above and below photo. I still have way more I want to do there, but it was nice to get a start.
Next, John knocked down the old fence. Wow! It sure opened up the whole place!
The whole place was full of overgrown shrubs. I think it was more play than work for John to use his truck to pull them out. We started a burning pile that grew and grew. I wasn't sure we would ever see the end of the burning.
Can you believe the difference? Even the neighbors made sure to stop and comment on how great it was looking.
We found a trunk and car door behind that brush!
Before and after the patio awning. Already, it was an improvement.
At first, I wanted John to put down a stone patio, but as we thought it over, we decided to have aggregate concrete poured all around the house instead. The concrete was cracked and a mess, so we had it all redone, widening out the entry way too.
Josiah helped Grandpa tear out the old decking.
The concrete crew found the water line. It didn't take long to get it fixed and they were back to work again.
The new patio! I can't wait for summer to put my pots around and start using it!
And the long awaited burning season began! It took a full week to get it all burnt, from the awning, shed, fence and all those shrubs we tore out.
The kids thought a hot dog roast would be fun...until they tried to get close enough to roast them. We ended up cooking inside. It was pouring rain anyway.
We also had new windows installed in the whole house. The existing ones had a line all around them that looked like security bars, plus sliders that just took up the view. It is so much better to have a full window!
I need to learn about persimmons. We have a huge tree full of them. Right now they are still hard, but are slowly turning yellow-orange.
The mountain ash tree was loaded with berries. It is so amazing how the birds ignored them and the berries just hung there for weeks until suddenly the birds flocked in and devoured the berries in just days. Mostly robins, but there were plenty of flickers and waxwings too.
The one room of the house that I have not been happy with since moving in was the room I decided to turn into a dining room. I think it is supposed to be a 'family' room, but I needed a larger area for my table than what was intended here. The way I felt it had to be arranged just looked messy to me, so I moved it all around and now it really looks like it should be a dining room now. I am headed out right now to buy myself a new chandelier to be the needed finishing touch.
Here is a sunrise from our place. We get to see both the rise and set of the sun from here.
Josh was sent to Japan for 6 months.
Beau, Emily and Matthew
And the month ended with grandkids dressing up for Halloween, even Beau got dressed up!
