deck steps finished

my daughter and son-in-law were up early and were so quiet that i was upstairs being quiet so as not to wake them. they were downstairs working on the steps and patio pavers.

my daughter worked inch by inch with a level, shovel, rake, and fingers to lay the pavers which we decided would look nice in a random pattern. my sis and i plan to plant ground cover between the pavers. we have cats and sand does not stay nice when you have cats. ground cover will make the pavers transistion between the yard and the cement patio.


my son-in-law worked on the paver steps to transition the end of the wood steps into the lawn. there was quite a steep pitch between the flatter part of the yard and the end of the steps. he did a great job making the pavers flow from the higher part of the yard and the steps into the lower part of the yard. they are nice and wide and sturdy --- especially good for older persons like my sis and myself.

we had a bbq that evening and everyone sat around in the back yard after getting their food from the bbq on the deck. we could not have had such a large group without the steps down. we do not have enough room inside to have large groups in the winter. there were about twenty people all loosely related.

we bought tiki torches to keep the insects away, but have decided they do not do a very good job. maybe they have to burn awhile before the party or maybe we have to place them closer togeather. or...maybe we just use them for looks!

steps and patio progress

the garden/back yard saga continues. my daughter and son-in-law arrived from california and my sis and i put them to work digging out a place to put patio pavers to extend the patio out to the pillars of the porch above.

fortunately because of all the rain, the soil was not too hard. hopefully the sand will serve as a collection point if necessary the next time we have a flood. hopefully there will not be next time for a flood while we are living here.

the hard part is figuring out how to put some steps at the bottom of the wood stairs from the deck. our yard does not have one level spot. through the use of wood and pavers, my son-in-law is putting in some nice wide gentle steps for us.

my daughter is working on the pvers which she is putting down in an artistic pattern. we will plant some small ground cover between the pavers. it will make that little strip of ground look like it belongs to both the patio and to the grass.