our house is happy

We've been doing so much work on this outside of the house this year, and today the house seemed happy to me. Here's some pictures that probably don't capture its happiness. The light wasn't great and there's a bunch of apple blossom petals on the lawn, so it looks like there's white stuff growing on it. However, the feeling was palpable, so I had to at least try. I'll find some "before" shots to heighten the effect.

BEFORE: (July 2008) This was our first view of the backyard - railroad ties surrounding the perimeter and a no man's land inside. I was so intimidated by this backyard I don't think I ventured out there all month. Either did the kids.

AFTER (April 2009): 9 long months later of toiling, we're starting to see green.

March 2010

AFTER: Ah, grass -- it's still just coming in -- we planted the lawn from seed -- we worked very hard to bring in compost, rototil, and then level and plant seed. Plus, Cort completely revamped the sprinkler system, so it's all automatic. Having a physicist husband is the BEST! I can say that now, and mean it. Yea!
BEFORE


AFTER: Claire frolicking, you can kindof see the garden plot to the right (south)

March 2010

BEFORE: This summer -- note the rocks, the railroad ties, and the concrete dust in the background.

AFTER: The grass is now even coming in up near the wall, which we were surprised about. Cort and the boys worked tirelessly pulling up all those rocks in that area and clearing the ground. Success!

BEFORE: Elliot's bday party in September, you wouldn't believe the dust that was blowing from the flag football game.


AFTER: Sanctuary! We also trimmed down the pines some, if you can see.



AFTER: notice the new swingset -- Cort's in the middle of setting it up

BEFORE: August, took the railroad ties out, but decided to wait on dealing with lawn until spring. Spring came quickly -- we were planting seed in FEBRUARY!

March 2010

AFTER: Looking good!

BEFORE: Just pulling out the rr ties in this spot. Little slab of concrete.

March 2010

AFTER: This has been the only spot the kids can play since no playing on the grass. Claire loves her house so close to "Mommy's house." We'll move it to the yard after the lawn is established.

BEFORE: Preparing for the patio -- we don't even have great pictures of how awful this little spot was with railroad ties and covered in weeds

AFTER: Love the patio, makes for a nice spot to sit and watch the grass grow. Also notice the bars gone from the windows. Also notice the cute girl looking out her window.


BEFORE
AFTER

Before: North side yard not worth much other than housing the plastic swimming pool -- still the horrible ties

AFTER
AFTER: Now this spot to the north yard is turning out to be our flower patch, strawberry patch, and herb garden. We also have a couple fruit trees to plant.Here's Elliot picking our first strawberry this evening.

Sprinklers is good.our view from our living room window -- sprinklers on, swingset -- much better view than it was before, take my word for it

FRONT YARD:
BEFORE: The front porch hasn't been bad -- here's Cort last summer in front (note the security bars on the windows and the post that is now no longer there).


AFTER: Now we have lots of flowers and foliage and it's a great place to sit and read.

BEFORE: Here's a pic with the security bars on the windows, but they're hard to see. Also, you can kindof see the out of control trees by the house that we've since tried to tame (except the Japanese maple in the alcove -- it's just too beautiful to trim)

AFTER
AFTER: Now the bars are gone! :)
AFTER: The kids like to play in the front yard, and I wish I had smellavision on the computer because the flowers smell so good in this little alcove.

BEFORE: A long winter with the railroad ties on the side of our garage.

AFTER: I just sold those railroad ties this week on craigslist (for a tidy little profit, I might add). Now the kids have a place to shoot hoops in our RV pad.Even our side yard smells good with this lilac bush and it's cleaned up nicely. So we're very happy these days.
"Miss Catherine, you have flowers in your hair." one of my favorite movie lines, and with Claire I get to use it often because she's constantly pulling the flowers and sticking them in her hair. Girls are fun!