Putting In A Yard...

 We planned for two sessions...we figure we'd need both to put down all the newly-cut and purchased sod delivered yesterday afternoon. We planned on working Friday night--last night--for as long as we had sunlight, then we'd get up Saturday morning--this morning--and finish the job. 

We put out invitations, to family first, then to others. Family were to come on Friday night, the others...Saturday morning.

Turns out, we didn't need the others.

Family took care of everything.

It's been a while since we had to put down sod on our property. The last time we did this was at our old house years and years ago. We enlisted family and friends back then, too. Last night family arrived only minutes after the grass was delivered. By nightfall, the last patch of sod was slid then stamped into place. We all rested and admired the new yard.

Thank goodness for family.

For fun, my wife thought it would be a visual treat to set up a camera and capture a time-lapse video. I set up my phone on a tripod just as we focused on the back yard. My wife was right...it was a visual treat. Thank you to all who helped out last night and for those who volunteered for this morning, but were not needed. Putting in a yard is a lot of work and we're not done yet but we're on our way.

Give Thanks...Modern Machinery

Yesterday I spent the morning and afternoon in the yard, and because of an incredible machine, we only needed one half of one day to pull all our sprinkler pipes. Those of you who have put in a sprinkling system before (or even if you haven't...) might be thinking, "Big deal. It should only take a few hours."

Um...not where we live.

We live in the Rocky Mountains. The hill on which our house sits isn't exactly a mountain, but it's definitely full of rocks. Last fall I watched our across-the-street neighbors hire a crew to put in their sprinklers. Those poor workers. They trenched, then had to shovel-dig the rest of the way for their PCV system.

We decided on something different.

We hired a neighbor's John Deere 60G.

It worked AMAZINGLY well. We hooked up the pipes to the claw The claw dug into the ground pulling the pipe, and the 60G backed up moving rocks and boulders out of the way as the pipe reached its destination. In a few hours, we were done.

It would have taken at least a day with a trencher, and a month with shovels and picks. Even though I did a lot of shovel digging yesterday, and I was exhausted by the day's end, I am so grateful for modern machines and the incredible people who created them. Literally life saving.