backyard work

Here is the rain barrel we got a few weeks ago. I added the overflow pipe today. Bought the wrong pipe the first time, so back to the store. The 1" pipe said 1" 25mm and I read it as 1.25". It doesn't have much water in it considering all the rain we've been having, time to check the gutters, there much be something clogging them somewhere. We don't have big trees, so I usually only clean them every 2 years.

 I finished working on the drainage pit for the floor drains from the back door. I had to extend the clean out by 7", and dig the pit at the very back or the yard. I lined the pit with landscape fabric, and filled it with broken concrete and gravel. We have 2 other similar pits, I had to redo the floor drain one, I straightened the run, and used 3" pipe, hopefully it won't clog now.
I replanted the grass, hopefully it doesn't take too long to come in.

A picture off the deck at sunset, the tree in the park is fully in bloom, and our camelia too.

Around the house

We finished painting for the year, a couple weeks ago. Here's a picture of the back of the house. There's still part under the deck that we haven't painted, will have to wait until next year. I wanted to do 2 more coats of varnish on the beams as well, just ran out of summer.

I painted too late in the day, and when we came down the stairs the next day the wall was dripping with paint. I had to wipe it off with a rag. We'll be fixing that next year. I have to caulk around the windows and doors anyways.

We moved the barbeque up on to the deck. It's natural gas, and the hose was just long enough to reach from below. We figure we'll use it more when it's up on the deck. I think it's time for a new one soon, it's looking pretty haggard. I just replaced the burner, so hopefully we'll get a little more use out of it.

We trimmed the hedge and the Camilia at he back. It was long overdue, I think we waited a little long.

We got rid of the grass on one side of the front. We went and got 2 apple trees (Fuji and Honey Crisp) and a pear tree (Flemish Beauty), from Art's Nursery. The kids really enjoyed being driven around in the golf cart at the nursery.

We put a layer of cardboard down to keep the weeds down, we're going to build it up with compost and leaves. I think we used most of our compost to do one side. We're going to have to get some leaves from around the neighbourhood, since we don't have any large deciduous trees. There are lots of tree lined streets, so it shouldn't be difficult.

As well I've been working on the outdoor couch. Too late for this season, I know. I figured out that the couch is too large to assemble in the basement. All the pieces are ready, so we'll put it together in the spring. I'll take some pictures of it when I test fit all the pieces.

Swing in to Spring

I put this up last night, Seth was really anxious for me to put it up, he was pouring over the instructions all afternoon. I think he would have tried to do it himself, if I didn't do it. I went to the new Home Depot by my work. It's a smaller one in a more urban landscape. They seem to hire the same level of staff though, I found what the metal loop lagbolts that I was looking for, after the guy showed me a carriage bolt. It took me a few minutes before dinner to but the loops up in to the deck structure. I put the swing together after dinner, the Ikea instructions weren't too bad. I stepped on the swing to make sure it was safe, and it sunk about 3". So I readjusted it, and the kids took it for a test ride. I don't think the grass is going to survive under the swing, so we'll have to find a solution to that.