Patio - Start Over

Soooo, I took some time to really measure and get a good look at what I did this past weekend and unfortunately I'm going to have to get MORE gravel.....ugh.....rolling eyes.

I'm about 1.5 inch off from where I need to be and I have peaks and valleys that are as much as 2 inch in difference. Doesn't make for a nice flat patio.

So, more gravel to be delivered and I have to rent that darn compactor again. I'm thinking it would have been better to call someone in to do this n the first place. There is something to say about hiring someone with experience!!!!

Oh, well back to the drawing board and trying to find more money to fund my project. Hey, but if the government and run this way than I can to.....LOL.

More Progress!!!

Today was exhausting!!! I'm so glad that I had the help of Mom, Bob, Vince and Ed to help. I wouldn't have gotten the gravel down with out them.

We started around 11am and got done around 4pm. Working almost straight through except for a little break to pick up the plate compactor.

The plate compactor was a dilema for me.

I didn't have a way to get the compactor home so my first idea was to go to Home Depot, which their rental center is about 30 minutes away. I was going to rent a truck and the compactor. Well when I called them up the truck was rented and they didn't know when it would be back. So I had to change my plan.

Lowes has a rental center in the store so I called them up, because they were much closer however they didn't rent cars. So I looked around trying to come up with how to pick up the compactor.

Then I saw Ed's truck. Let me try to explain Ed a little bit. He is an 83 year old man who lost his wife about 4 years ago to cancer. I think at times he get bored because when he sees me working on my house he comes over to talk and eventually figures out how to help me. He's got a huge heart and has old school and doesn't think a girl should do a "boy" job. So I took a chance and walked over to ask him if I could borrow his truck and with out flinching he reaching in his pocket and hands me the key.

I WAS SHOCKED! I couldn't believe he did that. So I was able to pick up the compactor and bring it back. And before I returned his truck I filled it up for him. When I came back, he came over to check out my patio and I told him "thank you for letting me borrow your truck and I went ahead and filled it up"

It almost seemed like he had tears in his eyes and said I shouldn't have done that and I could borrow his truck anytime. A little later on he came and got his truck to do a beer run and when he came back he gave me some money. I told him I wasn't going to take it so he simply told me if I didn't take it then he wouldn't let me borrow the truck to take the compactor back. He he is a stubborn old man. So I had no choice but to take the money.But I still feel like I was able to say thank you because the amount he gave me only half covered what I put in his truck. SO is was a win win:)

Anyway I started out with 7 cubic yards of gravel and by the time all that was in and packed down I realized I had to order an additional 2 cubic yards...I could almost use some more but I'm going to make due.

As I am sitting here typing I'm in some pain. Every joint in my body aches. I'm going to take some advil before I head to bed. My plan was to work on this tomorrow but I don't think I can handle any more manual work.

So new plans. Mitch is going to pick up the edging I need for my patio, I think on Monday, and he wants to show me how finish my project properly. I want it to look good and I know he won't let me do it wrong.

OK enough chatting and to the pictures!

BEFORE

CURRENT

Patio update

I have to say the patio is a bigger job than I expected.

Saturday and Sunday- The ground has been dug out and Vince did a great job digging. You should see the piles of dirt that are stacked behind my garage. Now I have to figure out what I'm going to do with all the dirt.

Monday - Mitch came over and rewired part of my garage so that I could get rid of the wire that was running underground.

Here is a picture of the the inside of my garage. When I discovered the wire I followed it into the garage and then removed part of the dri wall to figure out where it went. Now I have a new project: to fix my wall in the garage. But that will be after I finish the patio.

Tuesday - Mitch came over again and broke up my concrete step:)

Wednesday - I had the gravel delivered. I tryed to dig out the wire from the ground but ran into some problems so I decided to wait on that one. Then I began digging out the dirt that was under the step. Once that was done, I started to move the gravel. I'm learning that moving gravel is much harder than it seems.

Here is what I got done . Doesn't look like much but when you get home from work around 6pm and start moving gravel you don't have much energy left. And I was starving by the time I got done.

Thursday - So today, I got nothing done. I didn't get home until about 7pm and it was raining (which really wouldn't have stopped me) but it was cold to. So on my way home I called my mom and she said she would come over Saturday and help and then I called my brother, who has yet to call me back.

I think I'm going to hire my next door neighbor to help out on Saturday as well.

What I have left to get:

1) compactor

2)sand

3)edging

So my plan is to come home a little earlier than normal tomorrow for the ATT guy to finish installing my TV, Internet and Phone. During that time I'm going to make a call to get the edging up north, then calling Home Depot to get the compactor and finding a company that can deliver sand on Saturday. Plus I need to get a few more brick for a decorative finish.

Do i think I can get this done this weekend? Nope. Moving 7 tons of gravel and then 2 tons of sand and knowing how much I moved yesterday....no, I'm not getting it done this weekend. But it will be done by the end of next weekend!

Patio project....breaking ground

Today was the first day of the patio project. My next door neighbor has volunteered to dig out the patio for me and today as I waited for the uverse people to come I roped off my area for my patio, leveling it and everything.

So here is the start of the project, before anything was done. Pretty bland looking.

Here is the patio being strung off and a line spray painted to indicate where my patio is suppose to end.

Then the inevitable happened. Regardless of how much you plan for things you can never plan enough. As Vince was digging he hit an underground wire. Luckily everyone is alright. He went ahead and dug up the wire to see where it went to.

It is odd that I have one underground wire and one overhead wire. So I tore out part of my dry wall in the garage to see where the wire was going. Vince and I couldn't figure it out. It's like it went up the wall and disappeared.

So I called Mitch to find out what to do. First I had to figure out what the wire was for. So he told me to check out the breaker box, turn on all my lights in the garage and figure out which ones go out. I did and figured out that they were my exterior lights and garage door openers.

So when the ex had the garage rewired and a breaker box put out there he only halve ass ed it. So typical!!! Half the garage is wired from over head wires and the other is underground. UGH!!! What do I do.

Here are the options. Some are better than others.

1) I could just leave the wire where it is and place is in the layer of sand when I build the patio

2) I could leave it where it is at and protect the wire with something and place it in the layer of sand.

or

3) the right thing to do is pull the wire and reroute it to the breaker box in the garage....ugh!!!

After consulting with Mitch he has convinced me to pull the wire. I just cringe, this sucks. Now there is going to be a delay in putting my patio in. Mitch is going to come down when he can and rewire it for me.

To try to stay on track I am going to have Vince continue digging the hole and have the gravel delivered. Spread as much of the gravel as I can and then wait for Mitch to come down and move the damn wire.

Once the wire is moved. I will rent a truck, rent the compactor and if all goes well will have it completed by the end of next weekend. (once again my timelines are never right ...so I should assume another 2 week....LOL)

So I've been thrown a curve ball with this one. Oh and did I mention I didn't get uverse installed either. That is a story for another day. Good news is they should be here tomorrow to install. Only good thing about today is I got half a day off of work and for some reason I'm not stressed about any of this and it's a real nice feeling.

So we will see how tomorrow goes with the digging and I need to contact a gravel company and see how much and when they can deliver the gravel. I would like it deliver on Sunday but Monday will be good enough:)

Well, off to get some laundry done because tomorrow agenda is packed. Starting with uverse installation, drive to Mitch to let Tess out, then to the fundraise at the airport, then hopefully break from the fundraiser to TamiJo's, then back to the fundraiser for dinner and back to Mitch's house. Crazy stuff!

Lots of small projects

I'm totally killing my self this past week and going strong into the next couple. What are the plans you may ask? Welllllll, I am having U-verse installed. I cleaned out my garage this past weekend and I'm installing a patio the next several weeks.

I know, I know...you all are wanting before and after pictures of my garage. So to satisfy your needs here is the before picture.

And here is the after shot. And yes I did this all by myself. I even installed two new shelving units to help organize.
You would have thought I was having a garage sale. I placed papers with titles such as Yard Stuff, Fun stuff , trash ect. in my driveway and began taking everything out of the garage and placing it next to a sign. Then I figured out where I wanted everything and grouped things together. The whole process, including driving to the store and purchasing the shelve and putting them together took me about 7 hours!

And now I have a somewhat organized garage.....so not completely, its still in the works but it is a heck of a lot better than it was.

For my patio I'm breaking ground this weekend. And don't worry I will have before and after photos for you to see and admire all my work

Till then:)

4 Days without

4 days without Internet, TV and phone. It sucked something bad.

I came home on Wednesday and discovered that I didn't have any internet which sucked because I was going to pay my bills. When I went to switch on my TV I didn't have any cable and then I reluctantly checked my phone and it was dead.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME

So I called comcast and the soonest they could get out is Monday. Let me think, OH YEAH...that won't work. I was trying to stay calm with the lady but started to get irritated as she continued talk. Then she said something about her computer not working and calling her supervisor and that she would call me back on my cell. She never called back!

So Thursday I called at 6 am in the morning and the guy said the soonest he could get anyone out is Friday from 10-12. I told him go ahead and schedule it but there won't be anyone home because I work a full time job.

Then I call back during my lunch hour because I wanted to discuss the increase in my bill and if there was any way that they could lower it. The answer was nope and she said I was getting a really good rate (ummmm 136 is a good rate? and this was for bare minimum cable). OK at that point I decided I'm switching companies.

She then proceeds to tell me that I have a service call for today. I told her, no I have it scheduled for tomorrow and she said no it was scheduled for today because if I don't have telephone access then they consider that an emergency and they mark it as high urgent.

I told her that noone called me to tell me they switched it and that there will be noone at my house because I was at work and couldn't take off. She asked if she should cancel the service call for tomorrow..I told her don't because if they can't check it today then i need to keep it for tomorrow. She said ok and we ended the call.

So Friday morning come and goes and then it was 12:45 and no call. SOOOOOO after I call att and switched over to uverse...I called comcast yet again. I got another person. He looked at my recorded and let me know that the service all was cancelled for today because they tryed to go out to my house yesterday. So I told him the whole story and he said the earliest he could get someone out is Monday.

I loose my cool at this point!!! I tell him that is unacceptable, this is ridiculous and it needs to be resolved today. He said patiently "so you want to escalate this?" I answer him with a loud "yes, I need this resolved today, this has gone on for to long" He put me on hold for about 5 minutes and all the sudden my cell rings.

It was comcast and they want to schedule a service call for tomorrow (Saturday) and what time would work for me. I said the earliest you have available. So as of 10:15 this morning I had my cable, internet and phone restored!!! Yeah!!!

The guy said it looked like someone messed with the cables out back. The only thing Mitch and I can figure is that when I called a company to come out and mark where the utilities were buried (I'm working on getting a patio installed)which happens to be the same day my service was interrupted and we both think that maybe that company was messing with the wires to figure out where they were from and messed them up some how.

But all is good and I have full service again and I'm back to my normal routine:) Through this whole experience I realize how depended I have become on technology. I felt isolated from the world because I wasn't plug in.

South Dakota Adventures Part 4

Mitch surprised me with horseback riding. He didn't tell me until I got there that we would do horseback riding on Monday before I have to fly out. I was so excited. I LOVE LOVE LOVE horses and riding.


So he did all the foot work. He stopped off at this trail riding place before he even pitched his tent and got all the information and scheduled at time once I got in to South Dakota. He had to make sure we had enough time before my flight. It was great!

Here we are on the horses getting ready to head out. The tour guides were great. One of them snapped this picture for us. My horses name was Kitty and Mitch's horses name was Louis.



My horse liked to walk slow so I had to keep pressing her forward and Louis had a rather long gait and would end up right behind Kitty. The guide kept telling me to get her to speed up and I would, then she would slow down again. About a quarter the way through the ride she started to understand that she needed to walk faster and that I wasn't going to leave her alone so she finally kept the pace.





It was so pretty out there. It was in the morning so it was a little chilly when we started. We did 1 1/2 hours ride. And let me tell you, my ass was so sore for several days after. And it didn't help that I hopped on a plane right after and was sitting for 2 hrs on one flight and then 1 hour and the other. I could tell it's been years since I actually got on horse.

Doesn't Mitch look good on a horse? I think he does, a natural.

I on the other hand look a little out of place. Although I love horses I'm not sure I look the best on them. It might be the baseball cap that is throwing the picture off.

OK, Thanks to a little photoshopping I added a nice little cowboy hat on me...I think it makes a big different:) Now I look better on a horse...LOL

Now that I had my fun with pictures back to my adventure. Here is Mitch's view of me riding. Not much to look at but I wanted to add it.

So the only thing that I didn't like about the ride is my saddle was extremely squeaky. So much so that the guide made a comment about it. It was hard to hear anything someone said because the saddle kept squeaking so loudly.

The hard thing is after I got done with the ride it brought back my want for a horse. I've always had a dream of owning a horse and a few years ago I kinda resigned to the idea that the best I would get is an occasional ride on a trail but never actually own a horse. So I had, in my own way, squashed my dream and left if behind. But after this ride it brought back all those forgotten wants and dreams of owning a horse.

To be honest I get lost in a dream world every time I get on a horse. It's like I'm the only one in my little world..just me and the horse. It's peaceful. The sound's of the horses hoof clicking against rocks and gravel and dirk. The smell, yes even the smell is something that I enjoy. The feel of the leather saddle and the sound it makes when you saddle up. The pure beauty and power of these animals. It's awesome and now I want one again.

Now that I've decided and felt my need for a horse I am slowing working on the financial end to make my dream come true. It might take several years and some sacrifices but I'm willing to do that to have a horse or two.

After the riding we headed back to camp. I finished packing up my stuff and we headed to the airport. Ugh, I didn't want to leave. I like it out there. I like the sounds and peace and the bright night sky. The smell of the camp fire, the fly fishing and site seeing. I like it all.

But it was time to head home and start the normal grind of everyday life.

Oh, and if you are at all wondering about my sleeping bag...Mitch took care of it for me:)

That is the end of my South Dakota Adventures.

South Dakota Adventures Part 3

Sunday was a little slower pace. We traveled down to Devil's Tower. I think the drive was about 2 or 2 1/2 hours. I don't really remember. Going there seems much longer than coming back.

Devils Tower is the first declared National Monument. Declared on Sept 24, 1906 by Theodore Roosevelt. It is a natural rock formation created either by monolithic igneous intrusion or volcanic neck. This is a very popular place to ride to during sturgis. If you want to read more go to wikipedia and look it up:)

Anyway, Mitch packed a little lunch for us. So we had a picnic while at Devils' Tower. We watched at several climbs came down the rock from their climb. You can't see the climber in this picture however there are on there:) I tryed to get them but it didn't work however this is a good picture of the rock.

So here if the funny for this day. Me being silly is sometimes unexpected. It only happens once in a while when I feel the silliness upon me.

So we were driving down to Devil's Tower and Mitch was explaining how the bikers come down to Devil's Tower during Sturgis. I kinda questioned why they would want to. Traveling to Devil's Tower is rather boring for a long stretch. It's flat, brown and filled with hay piles. There is nothing pretty to look at.

Mitch tryed to explain that it was the feel of the wind, the freedom of the bike. It didn't have much to do with the scene just the fact of riding. Then he looked at me and asked "can't you imagine the wind on your face". I sat there for a moment, rolled down my window and stuck my head out.

The wind ripped throw my hair. I had to squint my eyes to protect them from the wind. My cheeks just about flapped in the wind. When I came back in the truck I looked at Mitch and said"nope, don't get it" and started to laugh. It took me a while to get all the knots out of my hair. He started to laugh as well.

Anyway we headed back to camp. Making a stop at the local grocery store and picking up some steak. Yummy! Steak! Who doesn't love steak over a camp fire. So we get back to the camp site and Mitch starts the fire and once it's nice and hot he begins to cook. We had steak potato's and corn. My tummy was filled and for the night we stayed by the fire and just talked. Then off to bed.

This time I switch sleeping bags with Mitch and slept like a baby. I now know I have to purchase a better sleeping bag. Don't want to get cold next year!

Then Monday.......

South Dakota Adventure Part 2

So now it's Saturday and we wake up early in the morning (6:30am to be exact). If froze my bottom off that night because the temps dropped down in the 40's. It just killed me.

Mitch was the first to rise and he started the fire right away so he could begin cooking breakfast. Love camp fire food. It's so good! Anyway while I was waiting for the food to be prepare I promptly put on my jacket and tried to get warm.

I forgot to tell you that on Friday night Mitch gave me a surprise....a small coffee pot. I know that you all are thinking why is the coffee pot such a surprise. Because it was a single serving size. Just the right size to make my hot cocoa every morning / evening. So while the fire was burning high he throw a pot of water on the fire for me so I could have hot cocoa and warm up!

It was the best!!!

Anyway, we got our showers after breakfast and headed up the the stream to try out fly fishing. Now Mitch has been fly fishing for years. This was going to be my first time and when I got out there it was rather obvious that it was my first time.

So Mitch hooked up the fishing gear and I slid into my waders and boots. We headed down to the water and Mitch proceeded to give me some instruction on how to fly fish. So he showed me and then I attempted to duplicate what he was talking about. It was really not a pretty site but then I started to get a hang of it. So Mitch headed up stream a little bit and stayed were I was to practice my casting. Luckily I didn't get anything because I wouldn't have known what to do.

After about an hour and a half we called it quits for lunch. Where we met one of Mitch's friends at this little place ( I can't remember the name but they serve the best bison burgers). We were there for about 2 hours before we headed out to a different stream to fish some more.

This was a much tighter space. We stood on the edge of the bank and Mitch started to cast. He caught his line a couple of times in the weeds and I just looked and him and told him there was no way I would be able to cast from the bank. I would get my line caught every time.

So we headed up stream a little bit and actually got in the water. So he casted out a few times and was able to catch a couple of fish. He had the camera so I wasn't able to get any pictures of them. They are much smaller than I imagined.

So then he told me it was my turn. So I got out my pole and started to cast. I think at one point he got behind me to help me cast because I was doing it all wrong. 10 and 2 he kept telling me and my arms wanted to go 8 and 3. The line would get tangled which Mitch ended up working on my pole more times than I would want to admit. I sure he was getting irritated with it. I know I was!

So he kept telling me "try to get the fly over there" and then he would point. Of course getting my line "over there" was not as easy as it sounds. I would cast and cast and cast and it always seemed to fall about 10 ft the other direction.

Then I started to get the hang of it a little bit and started to get my line over where he was pointing. Each time I got it in the general area he would tell me I was doing good.

It was a repeated casting the failed to get me any fish. I was a little disappointed knowing it was getting late and I might leave without a fish. I was good with it. So I casted out a few more times and as I watched the line come my way down the stream I pulled back to cast again and up flung a fish.

OMG! I CAUGHT A FISH. I look over to Mitch and scream "I CAUGHT A FISH". I about jumped right out of my waders I was so excited. I could swear there was a little laugh in his voice when he told me I needed to bring the fish in. In all my excitement I forgot what I was suppose to do. My hand didn't seem to want to grab the reel and bring the fish in. Then I gained some control and brought her in.

It was huge! The biggest fish I've ever caught. Something around the size of two feet long and pretty. Mitch picked it up and took it off the hook for me. Then he handed me the fish and grabbed his camera and took a few shots of the fish and me.

Now why do I remember the fish being much bigger than this....LOL. Did I mention this shirt looks really crappy on me...I look so deformed in this picture...oh well!

Anyway, after I caught that fish, Mitch casted a few more times and then we headed out. I was chilled because I left my coat in the truck and the water temps where like ice water.

Back to the camp site for dinner, conversation and then off to bed. This time I dressed in wool socks and added a sweat shirt to keep in the heat....didn't work. I still got cold in the middle of the night. Before we turned off the lights Mitch asked if I wanted to exchange sleeping bags. I told him no because with my wool sock and sweat shirt I should be alright. I should have exchanges sleeping bags with him that night.

So on Sunday........

South Dakota Adventures

Geezzz it seem like a long time since I wrote last even though it was just a week ago. So I just got back from South Dakota with Mitch.

I love South Dakota! Not enough to move there but enough that I could have stayed for a few more days. I know you all are excited to hear about my adventures from this trip...it was a fun filled packed 4 days. Wouldn't want it any other way!

As always grab your popcorn and sodie pop:) and get ready to read my adventures.

So I left out on Friday at the crack of dawn. I'm talking 5 am in the morning I was walking out the door to catch my 6:30 flight. (have to say a BIG HUGE thanks to my mom who was willing to get up that early and take me to the airport).

Nothing to traumatizing happened on the flight to South Dakota. Out side of the normal snotty screaming kid 4 rows back that peed in her diaper and demanded in a screaming voice "CHANGE MY DIAPER. I PEED IN MY DIAPER, CHANGE IT NOW" only to hear the mother say in a little louder voice "you have to wait till the plane lands I don't have a diaper to change you in" I was just thinking to myself why on earth would you take your non-potty trained kid on a 2 hour flight and not have a change of diapers? Just wondering! Anyway after about 30 minutes of this screaming and crying and demanding her diaper be changed the mother finally caved in and pulled a diaper out of her bag in the over head bin. Really she couldn't have had the diaper with her? I guess I will never understand until I have children that young.

So I land in Rapid City around 9:30am where Mitch meets me and gathers my two bags and takes them out to his truck.

And the adventures begin.

Our first stop was to get me a pair of wading boots. Now this was not an easy task. We went to two places and one of which we stopped at twice. I finally landed a good deal on a pair of wader that actually fit. They were on sale....Jenni can't pass up a sale. Why, did I need a pair of wading boots? Because we were going to go fly fishing. My first time ever, but that will be my Saturday story:)

So then we proceed to lunch and off to the Mammoth site. Now this was an interesting thing to see. This is a location that was once a sink hole and the Mammoths basically got stuck in the sink hole and died.

Back in the 70's (I could be off on my dates but I think this is right) they were excavating the land for a neighborhood and ran into some bones. Someone took one of the bones to a professor and the professor was able to identify it as a mammoth bone. So the stops the construction and started to dig up more bones and the mammoth site was discovered. These are actual bones not fossils.

They tried to pull DNA from the bones but because the sink hole was caused by a hot spring the heat of the water/mud destroyed the DNA. The site is an active archeology site and they dig about 6 weeks out of the year and spend the rest of the year labeling everything they find.

It is an amazing site and I would suggest if you ever visit South Dakota make a stop at this place. I could almost right a paper about it.

The picture above was a display they had showing a house make out of Mammoth bones. It was creepy to say the least.

The picture above if me being silly. So I told Mitch that I wanted to get a picture of the Mammoth statue so he pulled over and I jumped out of the truck. Ran over to the statue and snap a shot. Then I had the brilliant idea that I wanted to be in the picture. So I found somewhere to stand the camera, set the timer and ran over for a pose:) Not to bad for a one shot deal. I think at that point Mitch thought I lost my mind.
You gotta love a boyfriend who will stand there through several shots until his girlfriend thinks she has be best shot. This was my third attempt...the first two really showed the circles under my eyes and this one is clear enough yet blurred enough to hide that little flaw:) I love knowing how to work the camera:)

Then we headed back to the camp site where I set up my bed and Mitch started the fire and cooked us dinner. Then off to bed. At that point I couldn't keep my eyes open and off to dream land I went.

So then on Satruday.........