May 7, 2006 - Work Day 1


The shrubs are gone and the excavation begins...by hand. The removed blocks are stacked for reuse.

This is what started the whole project. I wanted a nice area to use my copper firepit. Hey, it was free!
I immediately put it outside to let the copper start to develop a patina. You'll never see it this shiny again.

   
Two views of the dig site...from the main deck (left), and from the pool deck (right).

This is where the patio used to be. The dirt will eventually be a mulch garden with a small tree.

The walkway blocks are stacked in the distance. There's a lot of digging left, but it's starting to take shape.

Another view of the dig.

A close-up view of a hole in the ground. Buried in the dirt were a few bricks my Dad put below the spigot
to keep the area below it from washing out. Over the years, they were buried by other landscaping,
and the last time I saw therm I was about 10-years-old, making them a great find! Some of the bricks
were nondescript, but some -- the New England Brick Company ("NEBCo") bricks -- I'm saving.

I also saved one of the five junipers (under the double window), the strawberry vine, the irises, and the peonies.
Believe it or not, the perimeter of the patio was determined by the peonies. My goal on the project was to
disturb no more than I needed or wanted to. A Bobcat would have made short work of the digging, but
I didn't want it ripping up my backyard in the process.

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