The Japanese Maple Next To The Old Porch Was Moved To The Back Yard.

Randy From R&R Concrete Planted The Tree (Using The Bobcat) But Yours Truely Got To Make The Area Look Nice.

Randy Sure Can Do Some Damage w/ That Bobcat.

We Also Moved The Hostas That Were In The Planter By The Old Front Porch, And ...

... A Few Bushes. Two Were Planted Here And Another ...

... Was Planted On The Edge Of The Greenbelt.

Lookin' Good!

I Also Had To Grade The New Drainage For The Downspout And All The Way Around The Driveway And Sidewalks!!

The Landscaper Spread Pine Straw On The Hill.

It Looks Very Nice.

I Did This Project For Anita Last Year But We Planted Her Flowering Plant That Was Moved When The Steps Were Replaced.

We Hope The Tree Is Going To Make It. We'll Find Out Next Spring.

Drainage Around The New Steps And Driveway Was A BIG Concern.

Randy Started The Work By Removing Some Of The Hill In The Front Yard (Probably Adding To The Issue w/ The Water Line).

He Dumped The Topsoil In The Back Yard, Absolutely Destroying The Grass After The Rains.

I Didn't Want Runoff On The Steps And Thought We Needed A French Drain.

The Original Plan Was To Dig A Trench Along The Stairs That Ended In A Sump At The Corner w/ The Driveway.

We Have HARD Clay Soil.

The Grade Was TOO Steep.

I Started Digging, And ...

... Kept Digging, Then ...

... Dug Even More, Until ...

... It Looked Good.

I Was Going To Fill The Trench w. Gravel, Place The Draintile In The Trench & Cover It Was Gravel And Topsoil.

It May Look Like I Did All This Digging In 1 Weekend (Same Shirt In The Photos).

Anita Washed My Shirt And Pants & I Wore The Same Clothes Every Weekend.

Whatever Doesn't Kill You ..... Makes You Stronger!

The Grade Needed Some Transition To The Steps.

Which Means I Needed To Takeaway More Of The Hill AND Dig The Trench Deeper!!

This Was Back Breaking Work.

Our Soil Is VERY Hard - Especially When Dry.

Anita Helped Cut Roots & Remove Obstacles For Me.

I Dumped The Clay In The Neighbor's Yard - They Wanted To Build Up Their Yard.

Here's My Truck With The ...

... River Gravel! You've Probably Guessed The Draintile Was Never Laid. The Gravel Was Used In The Back Where The Downspout Waste Pipes Drain.

After All That Digging We Struck Copper - The Water Main!! No Way We Could Drain Water Over The Water Line.

That Spawned The Project To Relocate the Water Main.

The Trench Was Starting To Collapse From Gravity And Rain.

I Dug It Along The Driveway Because At One Point We Were Going To Move The Sump Into The Yard But It Would Have Been Over The Electrical Main.

The Trench Was Ultimately Used To Route Electrical Conduit For An Outlet @ The Bottom Of The New Steps.

Good Time To Remove Some Dead Trees & Chip The Piles Of Dead Trees/Branches In The Greenbelt. Fortunately Our Only Involvement Was Scheduling Them.

Recall Anita's Friend Harold Spread 20 YARDS Of Topsoil When He Replaced The Water Main.

Anita Ordered Another 40 YARDS To Seed The Yard.

The Area Around The Japanese Maple Was A Mess From All The Work.

We Had MAJOR Bobcat Tracks Around The Entire Yard.

It Looked Like A Major Cattle Drive Had Come Through Grey Birch Court.

The Concrete Base Was For Bird Bath Survived The Traffic.

The Landscaper Spread A Few Inches Of Topsoil Over The Existing Lawn ...

... And Seeded.

It Was Anita's Idea To Border The New Concrete With Sod - GREAT Idea!

The Sod Was Used In Areas Where Drainage Would Be A Problem.

Looks Like The Boys Are Cheking Out The Activity.

Anita Covered The Front Yard In Curlac To ...

... Prevent Erosion.

The Rest Of The Yard Was Covered In Straw.

LOTS Of Straw.

The Grass Was Planted About 2 Weeks Later Than We Wanted.

The Fall Leaves Made It Difficult To Get Water & Sun To The Seed.

Anita Watered And ...

Picked Up Leaves INDIVIDUALLY Until The Seed Took Hold!!

She Gets The Award For Dedication, Persistence And ...

... All My Love And Appreciation. She Did A WONDERFUL Job Planning & Coordinating The Upgrades. Thanx So Much Anita!!