Backyard weekend projects...

[Acousticado]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Nice job And sorry to be a day late, but as an old retired const. guy I would have waited to screen the sides until after the soil (unless you have a tractor to dump it from the top )

We thought about that, but it was so much easier to apply the chicken wire when each wall section was built and on the garage floor. It was my son’s design where once we had all the wood cut and wall sections assembled, it went together like an IKEA kit. We have a small, narrow wheelbarrow that’ll fit inside. We’ll have the soil installed in an afternoon, so no biggy.

[Chipotle]

Originally Posted by srick

After one too many trips to Home Depot...

It's not a real project until you've had to go back to the hardware store a couple times.

[TBman]

Originally Posted by Chipotle

It's not a real project until you've had to go back to the hardware store a couple times.

That's the truth. I thought the half gallon external white gloss paint with primer I bought from Lowes would do the job. Turns out it really should have been labled "Primer with a little paint." I went back and bought a gallon of Behr's external gloss. That did the trick, plus I have a lot left over for another project.

Here's a couple of pics before I poured the concrete.

[AmericanEagle]

Mow the lawn...

[thomasinaz]

TBMan; That's an interesting project, can't wait to see the finished product. I need something like that in the back yard.

My son and I have been clearing and seeding in a new lawn in the back yard, which only requires watering now. Today we cut down a dead tree that's been worrying me every time we get a storm. It leaned toward the house and was looking more likely to fall each week. A smaller one fell last year and hit my back deck. This one was bigger. We attacked it today and it actually fell right where I wanted it to. Biggest tree for me so far, and hopefully the last one that needs removal. Tomorrow we get to cut it up and stack the wood. I need to learn chainsaw art carving, got more wood than I know what to do with....

[ghostnote]

I'm way behind on all of my outdoor stuff this year. The lawn looks like some football team just practiced on it, my container garden isn't set up yet, my in-ground garden isn't prepped for planting, and I've still got raking and pruning unfinished. And all the rodents are openly defying me to try to keep them out. Maybe I'll just grab a guitar and write a song about it - The Unfinished Yard-Chore Blues...

[RedJoker]

I added a powered gate across the end of our driveway a few days ago but we keep forgetting to open it when we're expecting folks and then forgetting to close it when they leave. Takes a bit to get used to a habit....

[TBman]

My son and I are going to dig small area's in the lawn to set the pots in. Just a couple of inches deep. Then we'll clean the pots of concrete and touch up the paint if necessary on the 2x2s and hang the lights. Our gas fire pit came the other day so it will be fun setting everything up. I'll post pictures when its completed.

[Highroller]

Ah, the firepit! Yep. I just rebuilt our natural gas one last month. New burner, stem, lava rock, etc. Ditched the old fake logs for a top layer of fire glass.

Not a real big project, but one that yielded a nice result. I like having it up and running again.

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by AmericanEagle

Mow the lawn...

AE, I'm so busy work work due to our IT project Go Live date approaching but I was able to take 30 minutes of my lunch a few days ago and mow the part of my lawn that is growing. Ride on mower. First mow of the year. Very relaxing and great to be in the sun again. Did you get your lawn mowed?

I may need to overseed the lawn this week-end but need to do a temperature forecast check first though.

[Neil K Walk]

Originally Posted by TBman

My project for this weekend is to make poles to hold those Edison style string lights that are popular now like these.

I bought four 8' 2x2, 4 plastic plant pots and a couple 80lb bags of concrete. I'll probably only need one bag, I have something else in mind for the other bag. I also bought a few stainless steel "cup hooks" of sorts which will hold the lights.

So I'm going to paint the 2x2s first with a couple coats of white semi gloss external paint. Then tomorrow I'll screw the pots onto each stick, being careful to center them. Then I will put smaller cup hooks in the top of each 2x2 and tie them off to a L-bar I have on the garage ceiling, which is used to hold my son's heavy bag, to keep them plum while the concrete cures. Then I'll mix the concrete, filling each pot to about 4/5 of the way up (leaving room for a decorative gravel topping). After the concrete cures the poles will be moved to the back yard, arranged in a rectangle and the lights hung up. I'll take pictures when I'm done. This will make a cozy area around our fire pit.

Sounds like a great plan. I have a string of those that I need to arrange similarly.

My back and front yards are a mess. I had a tree service come in and remove four mature trees that were looming over my house and encroaching upon each other. The bad news is that we have much less shade now and the birds seem to be mad at us. On the bright side, I think the machinery may have scared off the groundhog for good.