Probably this will have been the most dramatic day for us change-wise.
You know how, when it rains, you’ll do nearly anything to avoid getting wet. But there eventually comes a time when you just have to surrender to it. Recognize that there is nothing to be done except either embrace your reality or drive yourself mad railing against it.
Every small change we had made up until now – cutting down our little redbud tree, taking apart the bird feeders, removing the chiminea from the yard – had involved such inertia, seemed somehow monumental. But these were all merely drops of rain landing on my shirt.
The workers had brought in a bobcat just before I left for work on Monday and I did not arrive back home until after work. I walked around with a flashlight to see what had been done, but that is a bit surreal. The landscape was no longer familiar and I could not get a really good sense of the overall… difference.
The new view from the patio reveals the true extent of the hill in the back yard – in cross section no less
Looking down the driveway now looks almost precipitous with the removal of the old retaining wall and bushes
Turning to look across the yard from the same vantage point gives you some idea of the both the now flora-free hill but also the barrenness of the formerly forested area behind.
And the shed is still there, but the tired sidewalk is now no more.
A closer look at where the retaining wall used to be, Michelle is sure that the driveway will now slide off into the neighbor’s house
Meanwhile, from a different vantage point, you get a sense of where the pool will be located
Finally you can see the remains of the Juniper and retaining wall that was scraped out and is ready to be chopped up.
Tomorrow the concrete slab holding the Bar-B-Que will be demolished.
2012 Home Renovations – Part 03 – Clearing the Trees
2012 Home Renovations – Part 05 – Digging the trench for the retaining wall footer