{backyard redo} Things always get worse before they get better

You know how it goes with any project -- even when you're just painting a room. That chaotic time after a project has started, when your stuff is strewn all over the place, the floors are dirty and you can't find your favorite (fill in the blank).

That's pretty much how every project goes, I think, but it's especially noticeable when the project requires digging up half your backyard.

A few days before work started on our backyard, our sweet Lab/Husky mix, Libbie, was run over by a car. She was on leash out for a walk when she bolted after a deer. The car ran over her belly, lacerated her diaphragm in two spots, and dislocated her hip. She was in a world of hurt (and put a pretty good dent in our bank account). When she got home from the hospital, Libbie was in a hip sling and couldn't walk well. Of course, she needs to be able to get out the sliding door in the photo to go to the bathroom. So a friend who's dealt with dogs for a lot longer than I have recommended setting up a ramp for her to get in and out of the house. Without the ramp we would have had to walk her out through the garage and through the sideyard every time she needed to go potty. I'm just going to guess that we would have seen a few potty accidents in the house.

Libbie in recovery mode.

Libbie wasn't really keen on the whole ramp idea but we managed to coax her out onto it so that she could get to the bathroom with relative ease. Yeah, she still had to go over and around piles of debris in the yard, but she fought through it.

All of this gravel came from behind the concrete block wall that was removed and pushed back to create space for the fire pit and fountain. Eventually most of the gravel went in as backfill behind the new wall, and all the dirt that was removed was hauled off. Watching the guys dig out the hillside made Scott's back hurt. I'm not kidding.

Here's a view from our back door -- the one that Libbie uses to go out to her potty spot. The grey concrete block panel in the photo above is the base for our new fountain. The lines dug to it are for water (to fill the fountain automatically, so that it doesn't run dry) and natural gas (for the fire pit). You can also see one of the little Blue Spruce trees that Andrew and his guys planted for us. As it grows, it should fill in that spot nicely and create a pretty good screen from our neighbors. There are three more of them scattered across the back hill.

Looking back at these photos, I'm pretty thrilled that this phase of construction is over. Even though I know going into every project that things always get worse before they get better, that doesn't really help lower my stress level over the mess, even when I'm only looking at it through a sliding glass door. It also helps that now (a) Libbie can walk and (b) she doesn't have to dodge concrete blocks, tubing, old deck wood, and tools when she goes to the bathroom. Funny how things that seem so simple, like a trip to the doggy outhouse, can be such a big deal!

psst...for more about our backyard redo, check out these posts.