Last Day of Dirt Work

I think we are finally wrapping up the dirt work.  The yard is basically flat and back to "Pre-Floyd" condition, albeit a little higher due to all the sand we brought in.

Some of the sand is spread on the sides of the house as well as underneath the deck.

Deck Cutback and Walkway Down

Big day today!  The walkway to the beach is coming down so we can finish the dirt work and even it all out.  The deck is also getting cut back five feet to fit in the building envelope of the new lot.  This shot shows the existing stairs are removed and the state of the dirt work as of this morning, taken from the sun deck.  

Here we are from a bit further back.  Dogs are enjoying one last beach romp!

The walkway is down now and Tom is getting in on the dirt moving.   Boys and their toys!

Temporary Stairs and a Snake

Since we are cutting the deck back to fit on the new lot we will lose the current stairs going up into the house.  So we are putting new temporary stairs in.  Here they come!

Here are the stairs that are going out.  :(

Dirt work is on-going.  Ian is a Ditch Witch Master!

Even working nights!  He has the big work lights set up and going.

And we made a new friend.  This really beautiful Corn Snake came crawling out.  It was about 3'-4' long and not too happy about being disturbed.  Since they are nonvenomous and feed on the overabundance of cotton rats we relocated him to nearby bushes.  After we moved him I confirmed that it was indeed a Corn Snake.

Ian Does Dirt Work!

We brought in so much sand after Floyd.  When we added the retaining wall and sod to make a yard we essentially built a berm which needed to be leveled out to where it was before.  Ian mastered the Ditch Witch after a few hours and then really got the sand flying!  Unfortunately, the work was cut short by an ice storm moving in.

Retaining Walls Come Down, Vegetation Goes, Brick Patio Gets Stacked!

 The next step was to remove the retaining walls we added.  Look at all those landscape timbers!

 When the wall came down the dirt stayed in place.

Willa liked the new smells!

This is the east side of the yard.

After the walls were down and hauled off the next step was the vegetation on the berm.  This was especially hard for me because I nurtured that stuff to get it growing.  We added osmocote and hand watered from the wash down hose.  I couldn't even stand it when Tom and Ian gave the vegetation a good trim last summer.  Watching all this ripped out hurt!

Here is the patio without the bricks.  They have been salvaged and stacked to the sides to be used in the future.  

New Home Blog! Get Ready!

I wanted to document the process of building our new home.  Tom is traveling, Ash is in DC and Ian will be in Australia or at Auburn...  I'll be the only one here on a full-time basis!  So here are the photos of what is happening.

The first part of the process is to move the old house onto a new lot so the oceanfront lot will be empty to build on.  It is painful to watch all the work that went into the old house being torn out, but necessary.

Here are the "before" pictures of the back yard.  You can see the brick patio and the retaining wall.  Lots of vegetation on the berm, the sodded and sprinklered yard.

Here's the brick walkway leading to the front of the house.