Surprise! Backyard Demo AGAIN!

Date: May 7-11th

Yes you read that correctly.

That backyard of ours that we just renovated in Sept/Oct....

yep we're tearing up all the turf, brick border, etc.

I would normally have been in tears...

except we're making way for our

POOOOOOL

that's being built soon!!

WOOOHOOOO!!!

I seriously didn't know if this was going to come together for this year

or if we would have to put it off yet another year!

It took 2 months tweaking the design before we finally signed the contract

and made this long time plan of ours finally legit!!!

Now to demolish our yard.
It was a family effort pulling back the turf!
We literally pulled every single stinking nail out!
Ripped every brick out of the border.
Scooped up 100 lbs of pellet sand that was on top of the turf
before we could even manage to lift the turf to roll it back!

Later that night we finally could start rolling it up.

May 9th:

A couple days later it was time to cut down that massive tree!

Of course it was smack in the middle of where the pool was going to be!

And we had been warned that mesquite tree roots grow out rather than deep.

So yep we knew it would be quite the project!!

What we didn't know is that Ryan would break 5 chain saws in the process!!!

(and I don't know how he didn't break his neck or chop off his own limb!!)

About this point I had to stop watching in order to save my sanity.

Yes he did decide to kick down the ladder because "it was just in the way"

and monkey climb the tree waving around a chain saw instead!! ugh

Ryan's mom just happened to be over visiting right when Ryan 

was channeling his inner Mowgli the Man Cub.

Both of us had to finally look the other way to avoid a panic attack

that he was going to cause some major harm to himself!!

And let's let it be known that my vote was to just hire someone to do this.

But my Hubs was adamant this was something we could save money and he do himself! lol

May10th:

Tree Cutting Part 2

Love the backyard patio view this beautiful sunny morning! lol

Or maybe the view of my once perfect turf!

(which still couldn't be rolled all the way up until the sand was removed!

Holy cow I had NO idea how heavy that turf was after installation!!)

Or maybe this angle is better! lol sheesh

And here's where the tree demo took a turn.

I noticed that Ryan had just left one limb straight in the air!

Uh honey...is there a reason why we have a large stick in our backyard 

where the tree was supposed to be removed??

Ryan tells me to look up real close...

And there I see a nest with a Momma Dove hunkered down

protecting her one newborn baby and one egg!

To be real honest,

My first thought was like are you kidding me?!

Shoo bird, we're on a tight schedule! lol

Then I just had to laugh...of course there would be a bird family

that would derail our tree cutting process!

And how ironic that it was also Mother's Day weekend!

You Go Momma Bird!!

Hold your ground!

Poor thing just clung to that nest the entire time Ryan was sawing away at it for hours!!

Momma's are the same regardless of species!

We'll do whatever it takes to protect our munchkins!

So we took a break to rethink how to save the bird family

while still chopping down this dang tree!!

In the meantime we had some massive tree waste removal

and to finish rolling back the turf!

May 11th:

Dove Relocation

I came out today to find there had been some major progress!

The tree stick was now a stump!!

When I inquired what happened to the nest Ryan replied proudly,  

"Oh I moved it over to the potted plant trees but then the Momma Bird kept squawking

like she couldn't find it. So then I moved it on top of the back fence so she could see it better."

So I scanned the fence...and about fell down laughing.

I assumed when he said he moved the nest...that it meant JUST the nest.

Oh no, what he meant was that he amputated the tree limb containing the nest

and relocated the huge portion of the tree limb containing the nest!! LOL

But the best part,

if you look close that Momma Bird was right back there sitting in that nest! haha

Guess that means it's successful!

Oh Momma!

Bless your devoted little bird heart!

Now the view of the rest of my poor yard!

Those black/yellow totes are completely full of the filler sand 

that was on top of ONE section of the turf!!

Ryan figured we might as well save that too.

One less expense when they reinstall the turf.

Well a rain storm was rolling in

and we knew that nest wasn't in a protected location from weather or animals.

So Ryan moved the amputee limb again to our side fence wall.

The Momma followed.

I would like to have a happy ending right there.

But when he went back to check on the nest an hour later,

the Momma had thrown the egg overboard and broke it,

and the other baby bird was gone.

Well at least he tried to be a poster child for Animal Rehoming! 

And I guess my original thought of shoo bird wasn't so inhumane after all! lol ;)

May 13th: 

Moving the Landscape Boulders

So we have these lovely massive rock boulders throughout our landscape.

Yes I know they're expensive.

But they're also hideous

and impossible to move!!!

Ryan never accepts the word impossible.

So instead he got a few buddies over to move the boulder that was by the tree he just cut down.

Again, the pool excavators were coming in 1-2 weeks and the site HAD to be cleared!

Yes I did sit on the patio in the shade taking pics and laughing

at a group of grown men trying to figure out what to do! :)

I'm a supportive wife like that! lol

Hey at least I knew well enough to just stay there...with my opinions to myself! lol

Heave Ho! Not a single budge of that rock! lol

Then they decided to hook a metal chain around the rock and to the bumper of the truck.

They were just going to pull it out of the way.

One tug and the metal chain snapped!! haha

That's about when I summoned all the kids to come closer to the patio for safety reasons!

Then they moved over to the most important boulder and stump.

The man huddle occurred again.

I could seem the smoke pouring out of their heads as they devised their plan! lol

This time they used a pallet from the side yard to roll the rock barely onto

I laughed the hardest hat the biggest toughest Tongan

just watched the white boys roll it on! haha

I love Jay!!

And then they hooked the chain to the pallet

and drug that boulder on over to the side yard.

Good job boys!!

Until I went over there later that night and noticed they left it smack in the middle of 

the side yard where the truck, trailer, etc park.

Hhhmm I'm going to foreshadow this will be a problem in a couple of days

when heavy machinery needs to get through that area!!

lol oh well...good job for now boys! :)