Perpetual Ruminations

Tuesday

It is another late night for me, but only because it was a pretty busy day. For starts, I didn't get up until noon, or very close to it. Kind of surprised me, since I had a three hour nap yesterday after work. But, we were up past one this morning, so I reckon it wasn't real crazy to sleep that long. I also know I was running real short on sleep this last week, so my body needed the rest, too.

After I got up it was coffee out on the patio. It was kind of sentimental, since we, Rhonda and I, built this patio from materials we got from our neighbor when they added on to their house. We had built our first version out of brick when we happened on a bunch of used bricks. They needed the mortar cleaned off them, which was kind of a tough job, but then we put them down and built us a small patio. Then, the following year, the new neighbors decided to add on the the house, and they tore up all the blocks and patio stuff. They were just going to haul it all to the landfill, so we took them off their hands and rebuilt our patio. We did some inter-laying with some of the brick, and used the yest to build up around the fire ring. It turned out nice, and we  had a little pond and fountain, a bit of a privacy wall, and enjoyed it a lot that summer.

The second summer was also nice, but we had to repair holes in the pond liner, and a lot of the patio blocks had settled. The block wall is also leaning more and more, and it all needs some redoing. We did get some use out of it last year, but the pond just won't hold water, the blocks need attention, and we have gotten more of the retaining wall blocks now that the neighbors have finished the work on their lawn.

So, we decided to redo our patio this summer, put in a new pond, and see how it goes. This morning we had coffee out on the patio, and tonight we will have one last fire and drink a few bottles of beer. Then tomorrow, after coffee, we will begin tearing down the wall, then taking up the blocks. We picked up some more today, and we also picked up some edgers, to do it a little different this time. We will follow the same general look but instead of inter laying bricks, we will use edgers, which will fit better and give us more room. Also, we needed to pick up about twenty more patio blocks to finish the pond side, but they don't carry this kind anymore.

So, we picked out some that are the same size, but they are a different color and have a texture to the top. We will put a row of these along the side by the house and the side by the sidewalk to outline the patio. Then, we will put down a row of five by four patio blocks, outline them with a row of edgers, which also match the outline blocks, then another square and border, et cetera. We will repeat this pattern through the whole patio, and with the edgers it will be about a foot wider, and we will add one more row of squares to give more depth. So the plan is, when we are all done, to have a bit bigger patio, have the fire ring at an angle to the patio, a bigger pond in place, and build the retaining wall back up, with some supports in it.

We are also going to build up a brick wall along the inside of the retaining wall, then back fill it with dirt and pea-gravel. Part of the problem is, the privacy wall is built out of retaining block, and they off set about an inch instead of going straight up. This makes a nice looking wall, that leans gently into the patio. But with the brick work behind it, there is about a five inch space between the retaining wall block and the brick wall. Garter snakes have taken up residence in this space, and even though they are not really hurting anything, we would prefer they take up residence a bit further away from the house.

No, I do not mind snakes. In fact, these are a very pretty snake with bright yellow stripes down their back, and they eat a lot of mice and insects. But, they are in danger anytime we build a fire, because they may get trapped behind the bricks around the fire ring. Also, the dogs try and catch them, which also doesn't do them any good. They are just living in the wrong area, and could just as well move out further in the yard, since there is plenty of habitat around the yard for them.

But, the snakes are not the problem. It's getting a bunch more block for the retaining wall, so we can finally close in the patio more. It will provide more privacy for us, since we can't really sit out at all without having people drive past to look and see what we are up to. For some reason, most people around this area sit out in the front yard, and tend to be openly displayed. My wife and I, however, came from other places, and we enjoy having our privacy when we sit out. Of course, there is the possibility of Rhonda wanting to do some sunbathing as well, and now, even in a one piece swim suite, she gets way more attention that is comfortable.

So, with the new wall up, we intend to put up some privacy panels on top to keep nosy people from seeing what we're doing, whether it's just drinking morning coffee, having an evening fire and drinking a few bottles of beer, or sitting out in swim suits and getting some sun. We really aren't doing anything to draw warrant all the attention, it's just the way of things around here. To us, it's a pain in the butt, to sit out on the patio and have first just a couple vehicles drive by, then a few more and then a few more until eventually, more vehicles go by in back of the house on the dirt road than what's going by out front on the blacktop highway. Yes, it is that bad.

Well, I have this done, it's nine thirty, and time to have one last fire on this patio, then off to bed and an earlier rise to get started tomorrow.