Bridges in their natural habitat

A while back, I posted about the bridges we purchased at Sam's Club. While I was out taking pictures in the yard for some of the other projects we've been working on, I took one of the bridges. You can see one front and center while the other is tucked a way "upstream" in the background. Like I said originally, they look much nicer in their natural habitat.

Gate & Sod fun

When we decided to have the fence put in, we wanted to make sure it would be up to code should we ever decide to do a pool. One of the requirements for a pool-friendly fence is that all the gates open out. Well as our (lack of) luck would have it, the double-gate at the back of the yard opens into an uphill slope and required some modifications to allow the gates to open out. Because it was a very icky day when the guys were coming to do that part of the fence, we basically just dug a depression big enough to allow the gates to open.

Some time later (see months), as we were starting the planting beds around the fence, it was a perfect time to transplant some sod. As illustrated by the following photos, several 18"x36" sections of sod were required to fill in the depression we'd dug several months back. The best part about it is you can barely tell we transplanted anything. I love it when a plan comes together!

The sod transplant donor

The sod transplant recipient

Feeling old - another casualty

Well, as I've already mentioned, Spring is in the air and planting season has kicked into high-gear. Wouldn't you know it, as we near the "beginning of the end" for our large-scale landscape projects (at least for the moment), a trip to the Emergency Room rears it's ugly head.

In what should have been a fairly routine trip to Home Depot (affectionately referred to as "The Depot"), to pick up some $70 Colorado Blue Spruce trees, the ol' back gave out. Tree numbers 1 and 2 were successfully placed on the cart and tree number 1 placed in the car when I stopped mid-step and exclaimed to my son, "Whoa, I think I threw my back out."

So, the folks in the orange aprons had to load the other three trees while I limped around picking the other two out. Then, I drove home, changed cars, and headed to the ER. Two hours to find out I have a "lower-back strain." At least there doesn't seem to be any permanent damage. Although I'll pay my primary doctor a visit in the morning. Oh, and the wife just called - she's on her way home with my pain meds and Taco Bell. Ain't life grand?

Stuck Lawn Mowers, Part Deux

While taking the "mulch" pictures, I remembered to go back to the swale in the back of the yard and get a picture where the riding mower got stuck a while back. It's not nearly as impressive as it was at the time of "the incident" but you can see how it would not be fun to get something that was stuck in the swale out of the swale.