FROM DIRT TO DRAMATIC.......A Backyard Transformation

It all started as a simple little backyard......

Where there sat a tiny Castle and lot's of dead grass....

Not much personality but certainly

tons of potential....

And then We moved in and had a Vision....

So we called in the bulldozers

and the steam shovels....

They showed up at Dawn.....

Waking everyone within a 3 block radius....

They pulled up trees....and tore up the grass....

Were we crazy to take on such an enormous project....

Oh heck no....

I was getting my Pool!!!!

So the Boss supervised from afar....

Thinking that I must have lost my mind for talking him into this....

In short time......actually the first day they arrived....

We had a huge hole in our backyard....

I told the Boss not to worry that is would be spectacular....

Even after 41 years of Marriage I think he doubted my judgement....

But I knew this backyard was made for this....

With a Six Week time frame I had a feeling that it would be like in the Movie

"The Money Pit"....

Where every time they asked the contractor when the job would be completed they

would answer the same thing...

"Two Weeks"...

But every day bright and early someone would show up at our gate....

And the work picked up steam....

And the men seemed to multiply.....

In just a few days we actually had what appeared to be a pool...

We were getting very excited....

At only 4ft. to a high of 4 1/2 ft.....I wondered why the steps looked

So Deep????

You see I can't swim and I'm not really a fan of water....

I was thinking 8 hours of sunning on the patio....

And maybe 1/2 hour of dunking to keep cool...

The first week the Boss had to hose the concrete 3 times a day....

I was in charge of standing on the sidelines and yelling things like....

"Your going to fall off the Jacuzzi"....

"Don't fall off the wall"...

And...

"You missed a spot"....

And then the Amigos came.....

And everyday They Cooked.....

And worked from dawn to dusk.....

And in no time flat we saw it taking shape.....

And we saw an end in sight......

There were only 2 days when it rained that the men didn't come.....

They even worked Saturday and they apologized for coming to work on

Sunday.....

The Stone Work was Magnificent.....

These men were true craftsman....

When it came time to grout the brick patio each brick was done by hand....

With this huge "pastry" type bag....

We watched in amazement and we didn't want these men to leave....

So we found more stone work for them to do.....

We doubled the size of the patio from the original plan....

Ahead of schedule.....We were at the 4 week mark...

When they knew Daughter and Miss B were coming they kicked it into

High Gear.....

We dressed up the Deck....

But it was covered in brick dust....

We were ready to see an end in sight...

Ta Da!!!!!!

It took only two days with our little garden hose to fill

and then we found out that Cobb County Water would not give us a one time

credit for the sewer charges....

I don't even want to see when that bill comes...

They told me they used to give the credit but the people of Cobb County Abuse water

use ........hence no more credits....

Of course.

It came more beautiful then we expected....

Every day another neighbor comes to visit to see the progress...

I'm ready to sit and relax....

With my "Charlie Brown" trees that I ordered special...

Not one but three!!

and listen to my waterfall....

and be amazed that after all these years I actually have a

Professionally landscaped lawn...

And I want to Thank the Boss.....

For making it all possible....

For years and years of enjoyment to come.....

p.s. We really didn't want the stone masons to leave so they will be starting on a

stone fireplace this week to cover the filter and heater....

pictures to follow!!