Wednesday, March 31, 2010

It Happens Every Year

Our walkway sinks, our patio pavers sink, our stone walkway to the front of our house sinks, our north side stepping stones sink.  Some of the repair my husband can do with his crowbar and bag of sand.  The long walkway from front to back on the south side we had to have a professional do two years ago and the front ditto.  The stepping stones on the shady side my husband can do, grunt work but no special skills necessary.

On our patio, we have been looking at the leaning fountain for at least three years.  It has been shimmed up at far as it can go.  When one sits next to the fountain, your body leans to the right.  At a dinner party a couple of  weeks ago, my husband was going to ask the guests to help him take apart the three-piece fountain so that he could get at the bricks underneath.  Yikes, I said no way - it weighs hundreds of pounds and screams lawsuit if it falls on anyone.

So, yesterday he hired a professional, they started today, and the men have relaid the bricks, took apart the fountain, replaced a flagstone walk in the back of my garden and added two irregular bluestone walks.  They did all of this in a span of four hours, a job that would have taken my husband at least four weekends.

I will give the flagstone to my daughter to complete her walk on the south side of her home.  I am not a big fan of flagstone and am slowly replacing it and giving it away.  It gets really grimy and dirty, even with power washing it never looks clean.  In a wooded area, it would probably be more natural, but I do not have this type of garden. 

The fountain looks straight again, the pathways allow me into my garden without stepping all over my plantings and all's right with the world!  Oh, I forgot to tell you it's 70 degrees and the sun is out.