Progress
The concrete is cleared! We shoveled our last load into the dumpster on Sunday and beheld the marvel that is our shed-less, sidewalk-less backyard. Of course not being able to leave well enough alone we started on yet another endeavor in the midst of all of it- trying to remove this metal pipe that is sticking up from the ground. The home inspector informed us that it was used to hold up a satellite dish, which also explained the plethora of wires on our house. So for some reason between hauling wheelbarrow loads we started digging around it, to see if we could get it up. We dug about a foot down and still couldn’t budge it, and we finally figured out why- it is anchored in cement. We finally realized that getting the concrete sidewalk out was a far more pressing need so we’ve abandoned it for now, but I’m thinking the only way we’ll be able to get it up is to dig a wider hole around it until we can figure out where the cement begins, then try to break it up and pull it up from there. Of course we could just go the easy road and saw it off with a hacksaw, but this won’t work because for some reason we discovered that we both have this irrational desire to get everything that is not ours completely out. I’m not sure we could ever sit calmly in our backyard knowing that the sawed off pipe is lurking in the yard just below six inches of dirt and grass, silently mocking us.
Hopefully in the meantime no small animals or children will fall into our yard-turned obstacle course. To add to the danger there is one area where the sidewalk was where countless small pieces of glass inevitably remain. As if wielding a sledgehammer weren’t dangerous enough we discovered a section that was comprised of glass bottles set in concrete. Did they once use glass to mix in with concrete, or is this just another example of the renovations of a previous homeowners gone bad (or the homeowners themselves gone mad)?
Other interesting discoveries included a dog toy, some pieces of paper from a comic book, a tiny half inch plastic baby stuck in the concrete (creepy), and numerous pieces of coal, which Clint showed me how to identify by shining it up with his glove. [Side note: Clint will (hopefully) make a great dad someday with the limitless amount of random information he has. When we first started toying with the idea of dating I was swept off my feet when he knew what a grommet was. With that knowledge he successfully convinced me that there was more to him than met the eye.]
We uncovered no skeletons- human or animal which we feared, and no buried treasure which we were both secretly hoping for. But alas we accomplished something. We still have to make sure the dumpster makes it out (I’ll tell the story of that if it does, because if it doesn’t we won’t think it’s nearly as entertaining). And naturally we still need to till and level the yard and plant grass seed, but for now we’re quite proud of our bi-level, dirt/glass, rocky, pock-marked yard.
Hopefully in the meantime no small animals or children will fall into our yard-turned obstacle course. To add to the danger there is one area where the sidewalk was where countless small pieces of glass inevitably remain. As if wielding a sledgehammer weren’t dangerous enough we discovered a section that was comprised of glass bottles set in concrete. Did they once use glass to mix in with concrete, or is this just another example of the renovations of a previous homeowners gone bad (or the homeowners themselves gone mad)?
Other interesting discoveries included a dog toy, some pieces of paper from a comic book, a tiny half inch plastic baby stuck in the concrete (creepy), and numerous pieces of coal, which Clint showed me how to identify by shining it up with his glove. [Side note: Clint will (hopefully) make a great dad someday with the limitless amount of random information he has. When we first started toying with the idea of dating I was swept off my feet when he knew what a grommet was. With that knowledge he successfully convinced me that there was more to him than met the eye.]
We uncovered no skeletons- human or animal which we feared, and no buried treasure which we were both secretly hoping for. But alas we accomplished something. We still have to make sure the dumpster makes it out (I’ll tell the story of that if it does, because if it doesn’t we won’t think it’s nearly as entertaining). And naturally we still need to till and level the yard and plant grass seed, but for now we’re quite proud of our bi-level, dirt/glass, rocky, pock-marked yard.
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